Participating Artists

Thando Phenyane
Johannesburg-born Thando Phenyane is a figurative painter and trained architect whose work draws on art history and popular culture. His paintings use humour, exaggeration and darkly playful figures to challenge Eurocentric ideas of representation and open up new ways of depicting Black identity.

Johannes Phokela
Born in Soweto in 1966, Johannes Phokela studied at FUBA in Johannesburg before continuing his training in London at Central Saint Martins, Camberwell College of Art and the Royal College of Art. His international career has included residencies, exhibitions and participation in the Venice Biennale.

Desire Marea
Born in Scottburgh, KwaZulu-Natal, in 1991, Desire Marea studied at the National School of the Arts before completing a BA in Visual Communication at Vega. His work draws on culture, history, family and Black experience, with influences including Zanele Muholi, Athi-Patra Ruga, Sabelo Mlangeni and Luvuyo Nyawose.

Ayanda Mabulu
Born in Qonce in the Eastern Cape in 1981, Ayanda Mabulu is a self-taught painter whose work brings politics, history, spirituality, folklore and contemporary life into the same pictorial space. His paintings frequently combine ancestral figures, political actors and mythological imagery to engage questions of memory and history

Lebogang Mbewe
Johannesburg-based Lebogang Mbewe is an artist, architect and interdisciplinary designer with a Master’s degree in Architecture from Wits University. Working across textile, installation and spatial research, she examines memory, power, extraction and repair through processes of stitching, accumulation and mending.

Ibrahim Khatab
Born in Cairo in 1984, Ibrahim Khatab works across painting, video and installation and lectures at Cairo University. Arabic calligraphy has been a significant part of his practice since his early years creating signs on cloth and walls in the streets of Cairo, and his work has been exhibited in Egypt and internationally.

Hasan Essop
Cape Town-born Hasan Essop works across photography, drawing, performance, collage and digitally constructed imagery. A graduate of the Michaelis School of Fine Art, his practice explores identity, faith, belonging and the relationship between traditional and contemporary ways of living.

Williams Chechet
Nigerian artist Williams Chechet uses the visual language of Pop Art to explore African cultural and political imagery. Born in Kano and raised in Kaduna, he studied Industrial Design at Ahmadu Bello University and is known for works that combine photography, historical figures and graphic elements drawn from popular culture.

Khaya Witbooi
Born in Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape in 1977, Khaya Witbooi began his career in draughtsmanship and illustration before moving into painting full-time. Influenced by street art and urban culture, his stencil- and collage-based works address post-apartheid South Africa, globalisation and contemporary social life.

Kamal El Feky
Born in 1984, Egyptian sculptor Kamal El Feky studied Fine Arts at Helwan University, specialising in sculpture. His figurative works explore waiting, anticipation and human desire, often presenting figures suspended between stillness and movement.

Bob-Nosa Uwagboe
Lagos-based Bob-Nosa Uwagboe is known for politically engaged paintings made with materials including acrylic, charcoal, fabric and spray paint. His work responds to political instability and police oppression in Nigeria, addressing corruption, violence and the resilience of those affected by them.