Abdus Salaam (b. 1989) is a visual artist who lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa.
Salaam is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist whose practice is informed by nature, ecology and spirituality. Working across sculpture, painting, film, photography, poetry and sound, he explores the metaphysical language of the natural world, translating its forms, rhythms and silences into contemplative works that meditate on materiality, transcendence and the relationship between the physical and the immaterial. Rooted in poetry and spiritual inquiry, his practice moves fluidly between mediums while maintaining a sensitivity to three-dimensional spatial expression and the evocative potential of materials, form and colour.
Working in solitude, Salaam imbues each work with deliberate intention, creating poetic worlds that range from intimate objects to large-scale installations. His work draws together Western, Eastern and African sensibilities, shaped by his international upbringing while remaining deeply rooted in the landscapes and spiritual traditions of South Africa.
Salaam spent his formative years on a remote farm in South Africa, where he began painting and sculpting with earth, stone and clay. These early experiences fostered a profound connection to the natural world and continue to inform his practice, which seeks moments of stillness, contemplation and spiritual resonance through material exploration.
Salaam is represented in prominent international private and institutional collections, including the EKARD Collection, Farjam Collection, Mohammed Afkhami Collection, Rupert Collection and the Scheryn Collection. He has presented in critically acclaimed institutional exhibitions at the Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria, Oude Leeskamer, Stellenbosch, and the NIROX Foundation following his residency at the Foundation in 2024. Salaam was also a finalist for the Art Figura Prize in 2023, which culminated in an exhibition at the Perla Castrum Museum, Germany.
His notable residencies include the Institute of Public Architecture's Blockhouse Residency on Governors Island, New York (2023), the Giorgio Angeli Residency (2024), and the Studio Maretti Residency in Pietrasanta, Italy (2025). This was followed by his first public solo exhibition in Italy with the Medici Foundation and Pietrasanta Arts Council.
Salaam has presented with THK Gallery at Art Cologne, Abu Dhabi Art, Art Düsseldorf and Enter Art Fair. He is is currently working on a major solo exhibition, Antecedence, which will be unveiled in February 2027.