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Buhlebezwe Siwani (*1987 in Johannesburg, South Africa), who lives and works in Cape Town and Amsterdam, grew up in Johannesburg, though due to her nomadic upbringing has also lived in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.
In 2015 she completed her MFA at the Michaelis School of Fine Arts, Cape Town. Siwani has exhibited at the Michaelis Galleries in Cape Town and has been featured most recently in site-specific installations and exhibitions at the Gwangju Biennale, South Korea, Culture Summit Abu Dhabi, and the Kunstinstituut Melly in Rotterdam.
Her work is represented by Galeria Madragoa, Lisbon.
Siwani engages in performative practices that can manifest as installations, sculpture, painting, video, and/or photography. The thematic focus of her work is an exploration of the Black female body, with pieces that analyze and visualize both traditions and current forms of African spirituality and their relationship to Christianity. In her performances, Siwani often poses questions about what African spirituality truly means while interrogating its relationship with colonization, historical narratives, socio-economic conditions, traditional culture, as well as Black female corporeality. She turns her eye to the ways in which these relations play out in today’s world, how bodies and movements relate to memory, and to the stereotypes of femininity and Black identity that ask to be redefined.
Education
2014-2015
Master of Fine Arts, Michaelis School of Fine Arts, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, ZA
2006-2011
Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts (Hons.), Wits School of Arts, The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, ZA
Solo Exhibitions
2023
IYEZA, Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg, ZA
2022
iYeza, National Arts Festival, Makhanda, ZA
Amanzi angena endlini, Galeria Madragoa, Lisbon, PT
Impilo Inegama, NMAG, Amsterdam, NL
2021
Dedisa Ubumnyama, Cairns Art gallery, Cairns City, AU
2020
Inkanyamba, curated by Filipa Oliveira, Galeria Municipal de Arte de Almada, PT
2019
Othunjiweyo, Galeria Madragoa, Lisbon, PT
2018
iNcence, NMAG, Amsterdam, NL
Qab’Imbola, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town, SA
2017
Imfazwe yenkaba, Madragoa, Lisbon, PT
The House, Twil Art Studios, Johannesburg, SA
2016
Ingxowa yegqwirhakazi, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town, ZA
2015
Imfihlo, Graduate Exhibition, Michaelis Galleries, Cape Town, ZA
Group Exhibitions
2024
voices from abroad, Behncke Gallery, Munich, DE
2023
My Oma, Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam, NL
SEEKERS, SEERS, SOOTHSAYERS, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, ZA
soft and weak like water, 14th Gwangju Biennial, Gwangju, KR
Deep Blue, Bienal de Fotografia do Porto, Museu do Porto, PT
Let me tell you a story, Akara Art, Mumbai, IN
Who are we if not nature, M.Bassy, Hamburg, DE
The Power of My Hands, Museu Nacional de Història, Luanda, AO
Black Skin, White Masks, Galerias Municipais Lisboa, PT
Chrysalis: The Butterfly Dream, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva, CHE
L’Art dans la Cité, Foundation Dapper, Abidjan, CIV
2022
I Could Eat You, a collaborative exhibition by Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, Madragoa and Clearing at Casa da Cultura, Comporta, PT
Spier light festival, Cape Town, ZA
iNzunza, ICA, Cape Town, ZA
Where shall we place the placenta, A Tale Of A Tub, Rotterdam, NL
A Clearing in the Forest, TATE Modern, London, UK
All Eyes, AkzoNobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam, NL
2021
Rethinking Nature, Museo Madre, Napoli, IT
Goddesses of healing, M.Bassy, Hamburg, DE
Force Times Distance On Labour And It’s Sonic Ecologies, Sonsbeek, Arnhem, NL
Living, Forgiving, Remembering, Kunsthall Bergen, Bergen, NO
The Power of My Hands. Africa(s): Women Artists, Musee D’Art Moderne De La Ville De Paris, Paris, FR
If Yesterday was tomorow that is today, Bode Project, Berlin, DE
2020
The power of my hands, Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, FR
Viral portraits, Moderna gallerija/Museum of Modern Art, Ljubjana, Slovenia, SI
Materiality, Iziko National Gallery, Cape Town, ZA
Instructions for life among invisible barriers, Galeria Madragoa, Lisbon, PT
Now Look Here, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, NL
The power of my hands, Musee d´Art Modern de la Ville de Paris, Paris, FR
2019
Cosmopolis #2, Rethinking the Human, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, FR
Our Selfie, MO Museum, Vilnius, LT
CONDO São Paulo, Galeria Madragoa at Luciana Brito Galeria, São Paulo, BR
2018
Tell Freedom, 15 South African artists, Kunsthale Kade, NL
Approx., Madragoa at Condo London, Sadie Coles HQ, The Shop, London, UK
Continental Drift, Cairns Art Gallery, Queensland, AU
2017
ano zero’17, Coimbra biennale, Coimbra, PT
O céu dos oblíquos, Madragoa, Lisbon, PT
Deep Memory, Kalmar Art Museum, SE
Being There, Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris, FR
Ukutshona kuka Mendi, CAS Gallery, Cape Town, ZA
Michaelis Master’s show, Michaelis galleries, Cape Town, ZA
2016
Figure, Blank Projects, Cape Town, ZA
Quiet Violence of Dreams, Stevenson, Cape Town, ZA
Imfazwe Yenkaba, ITC session 3, Langa, Cape Town, ZA
The Incantation of the Disquieting Muse – On Divinity, Parallel- and Suprarealities or the Exorcisement of Witchery, Savvy Contemporary, Berlin, DE
iQhiya, AVA, Cape Town, ZA
Indlovukazi, Njelele Art Station, Harare, ZW
2015
Graduate exhibition, Michaelis galleries, Cape Town, ZA
Revisiting the Latent Archive In Sites, Greatmore Studios, Cape Town, ZA
Towards Intersections, Negotiating Subjects, Objects and Contexts, Museum Africa, Johannesburg, ZA
2014
Scintilla, A show on Alchemy, Commune 1, Cape Town, ZA
Revisiting Sites, The Hostel, Cape Town, ZA
Between Subject and Object, GIPCA Live Arts Festival, Cape Town, ZA
Between Subject and Object, Michaelis Galleries, Cape Town, ZA
2012
Just Do It! Creative strategies of survival, Alexandra Township, Johannesburg, funded by APEX Art, New York, USA
2010
Martienssen Prize Award, Museum Africa, Johannesburg, ZA
Graduate exhibition, Maboneng Arts Precint, Johannesburg, ZA
Vessel, Wits Substation, Johannesburg, ZA
2007
Domestomorphisis, Wits School of Arts, Johannesburg, ZA
Performances
2023
Inhlambuluko, 14th Gwangju Biennial, KR
2021
iNzunza, Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, Paris, FR
2020
Inlovukazi, Woordfees, Stellenbosh, South Africa, ZA
Enemy of Progress, Bern, Switzerland, CH
Baqamille, Woordfees, Stellenbosch, South Africa, ZA
2019
Belluard Festival, Switzerland, CH
Sites of Memory, Amsterdam, HL
2018
those ghels, Santarcangelo Festival, Santarcangelo di Romagna, IT
Ngisacela Uk’thula, Company Gardens, Cape Town, ZA
2017
uKhongolose, Appleton Square, Lisbon, PT
RTTC, TAAC, Observatory, Cape Town, ZA
those ghels, Spielart festival, Munich, CH
those ghels, Theater Spektakel, Zurich, CH
Jikijela, iQhiya, Documenta 14, Kassel, Germany, DE
those ghels, Greatmore Studios, Cape Town, ZA
The Portrait, iQhiya, Documenta 14, Athens, GR
Deep Memory, Kalmar Art Museum, Sweden, SE
those ghels, ICA Live Arts Festival, Cape Town, ZA
Black Madonna, ICA Live Arts Festival, Cape Town, ZA
2016
Busuku benzolo, Labor Zero Labor, Triangle Arts, Marseille, FR
Reparations, Theater Spektakel, Zurich, CH
The Portrait, iQhiya, V&A, Cape Town, ZA
Qunusa!Buhle, Any Given Sunday, Khayelitsha, Cape Town, ZA
The Commute, iQhiya, Iziko National Museum, Cape Town, ZA
The Incantation of the Disquieting Muse On Divinity, Parallel and Suprarealities or the Exorcisement of Witchery, Savvy Contemporary, Berlin, DE
those ghels, Infecting the City, Cape Town, ZA
The Portrait, iQhiya, The Opening, Greatmore Studio’s, Cape Town, ZA
The Commute Part 2, iQhiya, ICA, Cape Town, ZA
Live Architecture, 55 Minute Hour, iJoowish (All the girls in their pretty dresses), Cape Town, ZA
2015
Beyond the line, Gallery MOMO, Cape Town, ZA
100 African Reads, Greenmarket square & De Waterkant, Cape Town, ZA
Ramp, Stevenson, Cape Town, ZA
Conjugal Visit, Alma Mater, Cape Town, ZA
Iqhiya Elimnyama, Infecting the City, Cape Town, ZA
Spill, Baxter Theatre Complex, Cape Town, ZA
Spill, Infecting the City, Cape Town, ZA
2014
Scintilla, A show on Alchemy, Commune 1, Cape Town, ZA
Chroma, Performance as part of Mawande Ka Zenzile’s portraits, Stevenson, Cape Town, ZA
My Body Is Not An Apology, Cape Town Artweek, Guga S’thebe, Langa, Cape Town, ZA
Iqhiya Elimnyama, Makukhanye Arts Room, Khayelitsha, Cape Town, ZA
Cabaret Crawl, GIPCA Live Arts Festival, Cape Town, ZA
Between Subject and Object, GIPCA Live Arts Festival, Cape Town, ZA
Credo, Freedom day celebrations, Artscape, Cape Town, ZA
2013
Inkululeko, Theatre Arts Admin Collective, Cape Town ZA
Inkululeko, Youngblood/Beautiful Life, Cape Town, ZA
Residencies
2017
Het Vijfde Seizoen, Amsefoort, NL
2016
Rote Fabrik, Pro Helvetia, Zurich, CH
2015
Watch and talk, Theater Spektakel, Zurich, CH
Awards
2024
Future Generation Art Prize (shortlisted)
2021
Standard Bank Young Artist Award
Theodora Niemeyer Prize, NL
2019
Bamako Encounters 12th Edition, ML
2015
Katarine Harries Print Cabinet Purchase Award
2010
Martienssen Prize Award