Jake Aikman was born in London in 1978 and lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa. He obtained his Masters of Fine Arts in 2008 from the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, after completing his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2005.

Aikman had his first solo exhibition This Must Be The Place in 2006. Since then, he has presented five solo exhibitions including Echoes in 2009, Proximity in 2011, and At the Quiet Limit in 2013 at SMAC Gallery. His solo exhibition Confini Velati/Veiled Boundaries was presented in 2014 in Rome following a residency in Trevignano Romano in Italy, which was facilitated by the Centro Luigi Di Sarro.

In 2009, Aikman exhibited in L’Anima Del Acqua: The Spirit of Water an exhibition presented as part of the 53rd Venice Biennale. He was also an invited artist for the 4th Beijing International Art Biennale and exhibited in Paralleli, an official exhibition to the 2nd Sabbioneta Biennale in 2010, and the Olympic Fine Arts exhibition Creative Cities Collection that was held at the Barbican Centre in London in 2012.

Jake Aikman presented Vestiges a solo show with Suburbia Contemporary in Granada, Spain in May 2018. In the following two years, Aikman participated in the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa, and Future Fair New York, New York, USA both in 2020, a solo presentation at Arte Fiera Bologna, Italy in 2019, as well as Art Verona also in 2019 and The Others Art Fair, Turin, Italy in 2018, all with Suburbia Conte