As an artist, farmer, and quiet activist, Luke’s creative journey is deeply intertwined with the land, memory and future sensemaking. Born on a small dairy farm in rural Zimbabwe, he now calls a valley in the Piketberg mountains his home.
Having spent much of his life in Southern Africa, he has been deeply involved in civil society, education, and grassroots movements. His work has intersected with agricultural learning networks, global immersive education programs, public arts interventions, and landscape restoration efforts. These experiences have been instrumental in shaping his approach to art and creative sensemaking.
This artistic journey began in high school with a passion for painting and darkroom photography, which later led to a BA in Photography in 2007. This foundation in visual arts ultimately culminated in an interdisciplinary PhD in Sustainability Sciences in 2018. Throughout this time, he explored the intersection of art and activism, using photography, public art, and filmmaking as tools for social learning and transformation.
In 2017, he founded Street Capture, an initiative that mobilised funds for muralists and street artists to create resistance art in response to state capture in South Africa. His work also includes the curation and contribution to Food(R)evolution, a public installation that used photography to foster dialogue about the future of our food systems. This exhibition toured internationally for two years, opening new spaces for critical conversations about food.
In his current exhibition, the two works on show - drawn from a winder body of work titled ‘There will be beauty, but not as it was before’ - are a continuation of his exploration of the land, not just as a source of sustenance but as a canvas for sense-making in a time of radical loss and transformation. Through his work, he invites viewers to engage with our relationship to the more-than-human world in new ways, to see the beauty and fragility of the landscapes we inhabit, and to reflect on our collective role in shaping a future we wish to pass on.