Artist Statement
Rumbo Mercy is a mixed media artist who employs surrealism and retrofuturistic imagery to discuss identity and displacement. She navigates through stories of time and transportation.
Through worldbuilding, escapism and narratives of a strange yet familiar fictional place, it reflects the phenomenon of “cross-cultural kids” – people with multiple cultural identities who struggle to integrate into any group due to shifting backgrounds and locations. She explores retro-futurism, archival recordings, liminality and surrealism using imagery and multimedia disciplines to combine the familiar with the unfamiliar, creating a dreamlike realm of reflection and introspection.
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Bio
Rumbo Mercy (b. 2002) is a mixed media artist who employs surrealism and retrofuturistic imagery to discuss cultural identity and displacement. Her work has been exhibited domestically in South Africa, internationally, and via digital platforms. Mercy debuted as an international artist at her solo exhibition “Into the Insula”, a multimedia exhibition of her recent works, in North Carolina, The United States of America (2023). Mercy was shortlisted as a Finalist for the 2022 Wits Young Artist Award awarded to the top youth artists in the region. Mercy participated in Digital SUPERPOWERS! led by UK-based artist Ling Tan and exhibited at the Fak' Ugesi exhibition as part of this project (2021). She showcased several of her works at the 2023 installation of the Good On Paper group exhibition. She exhibited Into the Insula (2022) and Prologue of Space Kid (2021) at the Screen(In) TIme video exhibition at The Point of Order in Johannesburg (2022). Mercy showcased at the 2023 instalment of the Turbine Art Fair as part of TAF Talent.
Mercy is fulfilling her BA Fine Arts degree in South Africa.