MAWANDE KA ZENZILE
Born in 1986 in Lady Frere, South Africa. He lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa.
Mawande Ka Zenzile draws links between politics and perception, exploring our common understanding of art. Through his recent body of work materialist worldviews, dogmatic ideologies, and archetypes are sieved and converted into material for his paintings.
The subjects of his works derive from IsiXhosa, questions around ontology, popular imagery as well as his socio-political and esoteric knowledge. By transposing his approach to life into his canvases, Mawande Ka Zenzile seeks to question society and to open the possibility for radical ways of thinking about the hegemonies of perception.
In 2008, he was awarded a residency in Norway as part of the Abazobi project, organized by the Arkivet Foundation and the Robben Island Museum. In 2013 he won the Michaelis Prize and was shortlisted for the inaugural Norval Sovereign African Art Prize. In 2014, he won the Tollman Award for Visual Art and took part in the Nafasi Art Space, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
In 2019, he was among three artists selected for the South African Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, curated by Nomusa Makhubu and Nkule Mabaso under the title The Stronger We Become. In the same year, he completed a residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts. In 2020, the Stevenson gallery of Cape Town presented his sixth solo show entitled UDLUDLILALI, along the lines of the work presented in Venice.
In 2021, Mawande Ka Zenzile featured in Matereality at the Iziko South African National Gallery. In 2022, he is among the artists shortlisted for the inaugural Norval Sovereign African Art Prize, intended to ‘celebrate the practices of leading contemporary artists’.
In 2023, the 31 PROJECT gallery presented the artist’s first solo exhibition in Paris, while the Stevenson gallery also gave him a solo show in Amsterdam.
CURRICULUM VITAE
SOLO SHOWS | Selection
2023
Uhambo Lukamoya, 31 PROJECT, Paris - FR
Mawande Ka Zenzile, Stevenson, Amsterdam - NL
2022
Nqanda nanga’manzi engene’ndlini, Stevenson, Cape Town - SA
2020
Udludlilali, Stevenson, Cape Town - SA
2018
Uhambo luyazilawula, Stevenson, Johannesburg - SA
2017
Archetypocalypse, Stevenson, Cape Town - SA
2016
Mawande Ka Zenzile, Stevenson, Johannesburg - SA
2015
Statecraft, Stevenson, Cape Town - SA
2013
Experimentation: All Hell Break Loose, Stevenson, Cape Town - SA
2011
Autobiography of Mawande Ka Zenzile: Iingcuka ezombethe iimfele zeegusha, Vansa, Cape Town - SA
2009
Crawling Nation, AVA (Association for Visual Arts) Gallery, Cape Town - SA
GROUP SHOW | Selection
2023
Art Genève, 31 PROJECT, Paris - FR
Effet de Groupe, 31 PROJECT, Paris - FR
2022
KIAF, 31 PROJECT, Seoul - KR
Art Paris Art Fair, 31 PROJECT, Paris - FR
2021
Iziko, South African National Gallery - SA
Stevenson and Chill, Stevenson, Amsterdam - NL
021 - 2021, Stevenson, Amsterdam - NL
2020
Matereality, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town - SA
2019
The Stronger We Become, South African Pavilion, 58th Venice Biennale - IT
2018
About Face, Stevenson, Cape Town - SA
Both, and, Stevenson, Cape Town - SA
2017
Tell Freedom. 15 South African Artists, Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort - NL
Looking after Freedom, Michaelis Galleries, University of Cape Town - SA
A Painting Today, Stevenson, Cape Town - SA
2016
I Love You Sugar Kane, ICA Indian Ocean, Port Louis - MU
2015
Material Matters: New Art from Africa, ICA Indian Ocean, Port Louis - MU
Schema, Stevenson, Cape Town - SA
2014
Chroma, Stevenson, Cape Town - SA
2013
A Sculptural Premise, Stevenson, Cape Town - SA
After the Rainbow Nation, Nirox Foundation Sculpture Park,Krugersdorp - SA
Between the Lines, Michaelis Gallery, University of Cape Town - SA
2012
Material/Representation, Brundyn + Gonsalves, Cape Town - SA
The Exuberant Project, GIPCA, University of Cape Town - SA
2009
Umahluko, Cape 09 Biennale, Lookout Hill, Cape Town - SA
2008
ABAZOBI, SA et NO
X Marks the Spot, AVA, Cape Town - SA
2007
Stroke of Genius, Pretoria - SA
Soul of Africa, Pretoria - SA
AWARDS
2022
Shortlisted Norval Sovereign African Art Prize - SA
2014
Tollman Award for the Visual Arts - SA
2013
Michaelis Prize, University of Cape Town - SA
RESIDENCIES
2019
Cité internationale des arts, Paris - FR
2014
Nafasi Art Space, Dar es Salaam - TZ
2008
Abazobi - NO
WITH 31 PROJECT
EXHIBITIONS
2023
Uhambo Lukamoya, solo show, Paris - FR
Effet de Groupe, group show, Paris - FR
FAIRS
2023
Art Genève, group show, Paris - FR
2022
KIAF, group show, Seoul - KR
Art Paris Art Fair, group show, Paris - FR