Jakobina Gideon (b. 1996) is a Namibian artist from the desert town of Arandis, now based in the capital city of Windhoek. With a background in architecture, Gideon brings a disciplined understanding of structure and balance to her artistic practice. Her work explores the tension between opposites—light and darkness, black and white, silence and voice—with a particular focus on portraiture that attempts to reveal the inner emotional and intellectual landscapes of her subjects. She describes her distinct visual language as “A rhythm. A pulse. A quiet repetition that mirrors the habits of our lives—the patterns that shape our becoming. One line becomes a map, a meditation, a heartbeat, a truth, a memory of now.”

Gideon is the founder of what she calls Now(r)ism, which she describes as “an artistic movement dedicated to celebrating the beauty, power, and spiritual freedom of the Black community, particularly Black women”. Through various mediums including visual art, dance, film, and performance, she reimagines African identity on the continent and in the diaspora, emphasising the freedom and spiritual autonomy of Black people in the present moment as opposed to something that is forever deferred to an imaginary future. Her artistic process often begins with a single line that evolves into rhythmic patterns, creating maps of meditation that mirror the habits and patterns of human existence.

Since her first solo exhibition in 2017 at the Franco Cultural Center in Windhoek, Gideon has been featured in numerous group exhibitions both in Namibia and internationally. In 2022 Gideon attended the Baker’s Bay Artists’ Retreat that took place in the Tsau //Khaeb (Sperrgebiet) National Park and took part in subsequent exhibitions in Oranjemund and Windhoek. In 2023 and 2024 she participated in ‘We Will Be Free’ an exhibition that traveled from Windhoek to Makanda in South Africa. In 2023 She also exhibited in a two person show titled ‘Side by Side: Jakobina Gideon and Nicky Marais’. 

Collections: OMDis Town Transform Agency, Oranjemund, Namibia. ARAK Collection, Qatar. Private Collections: Namibia, USA, South Africa