Goolam Saber explores immigrant identity
Systemic racism has shaped the life and work of Goolam Saber.
His own name means slave in Arabic. He grew up in South Africa during the apartheid regime — witnessed it fall in 1994.
“I am embracing what my ancestors left behind. I’m not black, or white, I’m Indian kind of in the gray area.” Saber said.
He spent his early career teaching art in marginalized communities in Johannesburg. His mission, to introduce underserved children to the arts and to be a force that sparks hope and invokes change.
Saber, 31, moved to Phoenix in 2019 when his wife got a job at Arizona State University and was recently awarded the 2020 Define American Immigrant Artist fellowship.
‘I came into my own this year’
Founded in New York, Define American is an organization that uses media and storytelling to shape the narrative surrounding immigrants, identity and citizenship in America.
Fellows receive a $5,000 stipend and professional development workshops, as well as opportunities for projectbased funding and to collaborate with local organizations.
The fellowship was designed to help artists develop and engage communities. This year, four artists were selected for the fellowship including Danyeli Rodriguez Del Orbe, a Bronx-based writer, and Maryam Faridani, a multidisciplinary artist based in Chicago.
Saber, a multidisciplinary visual artist, works in media including printmaking, paper sculptures, typography, mural painting and installations.
Each piece he creates is process driven, inspired by his past and incorporates found and rescued materials.
“I came into my own this year. Stepping away from South Africa I can see the broader scope of things, now I know what I want to do and how to do it,” he said.
Why he started making art as a child in South Africa
Encouraged by his mother, Saber first began drawing as a child as an escape from his rigid upbringing.
“The way to process all of that started by drawing,” Saber said. “I just took it on and I joined a community studio in the heart of Joburg. It was super awesome and super dangerous.”
Artist Proof Studio gave Saber a chance to hone his craft as an artist while helping his community. He joined the studio as a student in 2013. A year later he became the studio’s special projects coordinator of an outreach program that catered to underserved communities.
By his fourth year, Saber was lecturing and teaching drawing classes.
His eyes were opened to the hardships some younger artists faced in his community after he dropped a student off at home.
“It was a house built out of tin in the heat,” Saber said. “But there was no sadness, or sympathy or pity. That made me realize these artists can make a difference in their communities.”
Just before moving to the U.S., Saber worked on a project in Katlehong. A man’s parents were killed in his home