Akudzwe Elsie Chiwa
Akudzwe Elsie Chiwa was born in a small asbestos mining town near Masvingo, Zimbabwe called Zvishavane formally known as Shabane on the 13th of August 1991 . She is a visual artist and Michaelis School of Fine Art Graduate. Her work experiments with notions of Identity, Femininity, Migratory Practises as well as mysticism and storytelling within the Shona culture.
A detail view of Akudzwe Elsie Chiwa’s artwork as part of her Continuum exhibition in 2018. Photograph courtesy of the artist.
Her method explores generational and embodied knowledges by way of an intuitive art-making process. This process allows her to utilize both conscious and sub-conscious capacities to build an evocative sculptural practice which aims to re-build by re-imagining forgotten and erased histories of her past and culture.
Among her accolades which include the Simon Gerson Award, the Cecil Skotnes Scholarship, and the McIver Award, she became the first Black woman to receive the Michealis Prize, awarded for her 2018 graduate body of work 'Continuum'.
An artwork by Akudzwe Elsie Chiwa titled ALL MY MOTHERS as part of her Continuum exhibition in 2018. Photograph by courtesy of the artist.
A detail view of Akudzwe Elsie Chiwa’s artwork as part of her Continuum exhibition in 2018. Photograph courtesy of the artist.
Greer Valley
Greer Valley is a Doctoral candidate in Art Historical Studies at Michaelis School of Fine Art and a Doctoral research fellow at the Archive and Public Culture Initiative at the University of Cape Town (UCT). She is on the board of the Africa South Arts Initiative (ASAI) and a member of the KwaZulu Natal Society of the Arts (KZNSA) council. Her research and practice interests include curatorial interventions in institutions and exhibition spaces focused on African colonial histories.
In 2018 she was a curatorial fellow at the Institute for Creative Arts (ICA) and she was recently selected as a MAHASSA fellow (Modern Art Histories in and Across Africa, South and Southeast Asia) 2019-2020. In 2019 she was invited to be a Guest Curator and member of the Dak’art Biennale 2020 selection committee.Greer is experienced in the Visual Art, Architecture and Design industries in South Africa, the Netherlands and the UK. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture, Honours degree in Visual Studies and Master’s degree in Visual Art.
Inga Somdyala
Inga Somdyala is a visual artist born in Queenstown, Eastern Cape in 1994 and currently living in Cape Town, South Africa. Departing from his isiXhosa cultural identity, Somdyala explores aspects of the cultural, political and social negotiations of the post-apartheid generation.
Uphengululo Lowlimi (2019), Variable
Working primarily in print and installation, his work is an evocative and tactile exploration of isiXhosa cultural history within South African political history as it intersects with his lived experience.
Chronicle of a Death Foretold (2019) soil, compost, chalk and ochre on canvas, 120 X 180 CM
Inga Somdyala has taken part in group exhibitions locally, most recently in the head the hand at blank projects (2019) and AMAQABA Vol. 1 – a collaborative exhibition with Xhanti Zwelendaba at Eclectica Contemporary (2018). Other group shows include Rocks hosted by Gallery Gallery (2019), a transit platform for contemporary art developed by The Atelier, Unpacking at Eclectica Print Gallery (2016) and previously Collective Noun at the Michaelis Galleries (2015).
Everything Scatter (2016) Off-set Lithograph on Zerkall, 75 X 55 CM
Ntyilo Ntyilo (2018) Mild steel and found school desk, Variable
Somdyala has also exhibited at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair with Eclectica Print Gallery, in 2016 and 2017. Completing his BAFA (Hons.) at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 2017, Somdyala received the Katrine Harries Print Cabinet Award and Simon Gerson Prize for his final body of work.
In 2019, Somdyala completed his MFA studies at UCT’s Michaelis School of Fine Art.
Below are video stills from Inga’s film, Izandla Ezingcolileyo (Act I - II) (2019)
Lonwabo Kilani
Lonwabo’s practice is interdisciplinary. He paints, makes animations, interactive installations and curates. He has completed a BA.MP(Bachelor of Arts in Motion Picture) in Directing animation, Honours in Curatorship and currently studying for my MAFA. A founder of a digital arts residency project 'Gallery.exe', co-founder of a collaborative visual arts residency 'Studio147' and a member of the artist collective 'Gugulective'. He serves as a secretary board member of the Greatmore Arts Trust.
Luvuyo Equiano Nyawose
Luvuyo Equiano Nyawose engages in a transdisciplinary practice, which navigates between filmmaking, performance, curation and photography to produce work that is a reflection of their own lived experience. The primary objective of their creative and academic work is to establish discourse and interventions.
Featured below are Exhibition stills from Listening Room (2019), an exhibition of sonic artworks co-curated by Luvuyo at the Michaelis Galleries.
Skhumbuzo Makandula
Sikhumbuzo Makandula is a Cape Town based visual and performance artist, he graduated with a Fine Art degree from Rhodes University. He holds a Master of Arts in Public Spheres and Performance studies from University Cape Town. His first solo exhibition was titled In Search of A Nation in 2016 was at Njelele Art Station, Harare, Zimbabwe.
In 2017 he had a second solo exhibition titled Ubuzwe at Room gallery, Johannesburg. Group exhibitions Makandula participated in includes, Art and Cosmology at Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg,Analogue Eye Video Art at the Wiener Festwochen in Vienna, My Collection at Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, New York, 1:54 Art Fair, New York, !Kauru: Towards Intersections at UNISA Art Gallery, Pretoria and Museum Africa Johannesburg, Looking After Freedom at Michaelis Galleries, Harbored at Cape Art Fair, Joburg Art Fair, That Art Fair, Infecting the City Festival and Live Art Festival, Cape Town.
Featured below are images from the still performance of Zizimase (2019) at the District 6 Museum as part of the Institute of Creative Arts' Infecting the City festival.
