Othello De'souza Hartley

Othello De’Souza-Hartley is a London-based mixed media artist who explores aspects of human expression and its suppression in contemporary society.

Applying minimal gestures to maximum effect, De’Souza-Hartley merges personal experience into visual investigations of prevailing quandaries and contradictions. Working predominantly in photography, moving image, drawing, performance, and painting, the human body is at the core of his practice, either directly as a subject or indirectly via the marks and layers applied to canvas.

Inspired equally by the subjective gaze of classical paintings and notions of non-duality in Eastern philosophy, by the geometry and texture of Modern architecture and improvisation in experimental music or contemporary dance, De’Souza-Hartley’s practice is not confined by medium or genre.

Observations relating to gender and race are a recurring theme in De’Souza-Hartley’s work. An ongoing investigation into the complexities of male identity encompasses portraiture of self and others, visually captured in photography and painting and supplemented by video and sound.