Peter Spanjer

Peter Spanjer’s artistic practice explores the softness, sensitivity and vulnerability of black men, subverting stereotypes of infallible masculinity and underlying aggression. Despite their sensuality, Spanjer’s moving image works demonstrate resistance, refusals to perform ascribed, the homogenous notion of blackness and gender. Instead, they are immersive and rich, with translucent layers of sound and image dancing around one another. Within the abstracted soundscapes and dynamic visuals, meaning is often elusive, and clarity is momentary, but feelings wash over the viewer; calmness, dread and everything in between. His 2020 film, ‘Make Me Safe’ responds to the sociocultural conditions of its conception; the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the constant threat of police brutality against racialised bodies. ...