b. 1974, Bethal, South Africa.
Lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Usha Seejarim was born in 1974 in Bethal, South Africa, and currently lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa. Seejarim received a B-Tech Degree in Fine Art from the University of Johannesburg in 1999 and a Master’s Degree in Fine Art at the University of The Witwatersrand (WITS) in 2008, both in Johannesburg. Awards include: Sculpture Award at the Dakar Biennale, Dakar, Senegal and the Tomorrow’s/ Today Prize, at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa, both in 2018; the Mercedes-Benz Award for Public Art in 2008; the Ampersand Fellowship Award, New York City, USA in 2003 and the inaugural MTN New Contemporaries Exhibition Award (joint-winner) in 2001, Johannesburg.

In September 2020, Seejarim presented her solo exhibition, Vessel of the Fish at Witte de With Centre for Contemporary Arts in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Further selected solo exhibitions include: Un balai, pourquoi pas une balai, following her 2-month residency at SCAC Marestaing in Montesquieu-Volvestre, France and Transgressing Power, at SMAC Gallery in Johannesburg, both in 2019; Keepers of the Common at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair in Cape Town, South Africa in 2018; Reasons for descending the staircase at Fried Contemporary in Pretoria, South Africa in 2017; Venus at Home - a travelling exhibition presented at the Durban Art Gallery, Kwazulu Natal; NWU Gallery at the Northwest University in Potchefstroom; the Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) in Johannesburg and the Atherstone Gallery at National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, all in South Africa (2015-2012).

Recent group exhibitions include: Matereality, at Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa and A Show of Solidarity, in support of the South African Solidarity Fund during an enforced Covid-19 lockdown, at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town, both in 2020; The Ampersand Foundation Award 21 years celebration exhibition curated by Gordon Froud at the University of Johannesburg Art Gallery, in 2019; WomanISM as part of the 12th OSTRALE Biennale for Contemporary Art, travelling at the Goethe Institute; Ausländerrat; Historic Tobacco Factory f6, Dresden, Germany in 2019; and The Red Hour, curated by Simon Njami, for the Dak’art Biennale, Dakar, Senegal, in 2018.

Seejarim has completed numerous public commissions namely: the public portrait for Nelson Mandela’s funeral in Qunu, South Africa in 2013 and Figures Representing Articles From The Freedom Charter in 2008 in, Soweto, South Africa amongst others.