Carine Zaayman is an artist, curator, and scholar committed to critical engagement with colonial archives and collections, specifically those holding strands of Khoekhoe pasts. Bringing intangible and neglected histories into view is a key motivation for her work. Her research aims to contribute to a radical reconsideration of colonial archives and museum collections, especially by assisting in finding ways to release their hold over our imaginations when we narrate the past, as well as how we might shape futures from it.
She obtained a PhD in Fine Art from the University of Cape Town in 2019 where she also taught in the Michaelis School of Fine Art and the Centre for Curating the Archive). At present, Zaayman is a Researcher and Research Coordinator at the The Research Center for Material Culture (Leiden, NL). She collaborates on curatorial projects in South Africa, including 'A !Nau For Now: Crossing Oceans Inside' and the ongoing 'Under Cover of Darkness'. Her most recent publications include 'Anarchival Practices' (ICI Berlin), and a contribution to the forthcoming publication 'We Contain Multitudes: Expanding Spaces and Forms of Mentorship Within Art Education Practices' from ARTez written in collaboration with Nuraini Juliastuti.