Mbali Dhlamini - Bio & Works

Works

Bugubedu I

Photograph

2020

Digital Print on Textured FineArt Rag

100 x 70 cm

39 3/8 x 27 3/5 in

Edition of 5 + 2 AP

Bugubedu II

Photograph

2020

Digital Print on Textured FineArt Rag

100 x 70 cm

39 3/8 x 27 3/5 in

Edition of 5 + 2 AP

Ya fanang ka seatla se bulehileng otla hlonolofatswa

Photograph

2020

Digital Print on Textured FineArt Rag

100 x 70 cm

39 3/8 x 27 3/5 in

Edition of 5 + 2 AP

Untitled - Afrique Occidentale, Fille Ouolof

Photograph

2021

Digital Print on Textured FineArt Rag

100 x 71 cm

39 3/8 x 28 in

Edition of 5 + 1 AP

Untitled - Dakar, Jeune Fille

Photograph

2021

Digital Print on Textured FineArt Rag

100 x 71 cm

39 3/8 x 28 in

Edition of 5 + 1 AP

Untitled - Sénégal, Femme Cérère

Photograph

2017

Digital Print on Textured FineArt Rag

100 x 71 cm

39 3/8 x 28 in

Edition of 5 + 1 AP

Untitled - Afrique Occidentale, Femme Antaimoro

Photograph

2017

Digital Print on Textured FineArt Rag

100 x 71 cm

39 3/8 x 28 in

Edition of 5 + 1 AP

Mbali Dhlamini: Untitled - Afrique Occidentale, Femme Djallonké

Untitled - Afrique Occidentale, Jeune Femme

Photograph

2017

Digital Print on Textured FineArt Rag

100 x 71 cm

39 3/8 x 28 in

Edition of 5 + 1 AP

Untitled

Drawing

2022

Wax and indigo on paper

29,7 x 21 cm

11 7/10 x 8 1/4 in

Untitled

Drawing

2022

Wax and indigo on paper

29,7 x 21 cm

11 7/10 x 8 1/4 in

Untitled

Drawing

2022

Wax and indigo on paper

29,7 x 21 cm

11 7/10 x 8 1/4 in

Untitled

Drawing

2022

Wax and indigo on paper

21 x 29,7 cm

8 1/4 x 11 7/10 in

Bio

Mbali Dhlamini is a multidisciplinary artist and visual researcher whose work explores the decolonisation of contemporary African identity-making. She performs visual, tactile and discursive investigations into current indigenous cultural practices. Her work is in constant conversation with her past and present visual landscapes. Working to maintain a state of unlearning and relearning, her process recognizes language as a medium of understanding and as a repository of knowledge.

Her works from the series Look Into are digitally reworked colonial portraits of West-Africans wearing traditional clothing and stem from a research fellowship at the RAW Material Company in Dakar (Senegal), investigating the cultural significance of traditional indigo dyeing and the symbolism of indigo fabric within indigenous Senegalese communities to open discussions about knowledge systems and the importance of indigenous philosophies in contemporary societies. Dhlamini was able to continue this research in 2021 through her residency at Kehinde Wiley's Black Rock Senegal.

Mbali Dhlamini trained as a printmaker at Artist Proof Studio in Johannesburg from 2008 to 2009 and received a National Diploma and Bachelor of Technology in Visual Arts from the University of Johannesburg in 2013 and 2014, respectively. While working towards a Master of Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand between 2014 and 2015, Dhlamini explored faith and spirituality through the use of colour in Apostolic and Zionist movements. In 2015, her graduate solo exhibition "Non-Promised Land: Bana Ba Thari Entsho" was hosted at Constitutional Hill in Johannesburg.

Mbali Dhlamini has participated in art exhibitions in South Africa and abroad, including at the Washington Printmakers Gallery in 2014, the Beijing Biennale in 2015, and the European Cultural Center during the Venice Biennale in 2019. Most recently, her work was acquired by the Daimler Art Collection and is currently on view in their exhibition "Friendship. Nature. Culture." which opened in October last year. She is currently based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Solo Exhibitions

2022

"Go Bipa Mpa Ka Mabele", Sakhile&Me, Frankfurt, Germany

2015

"Non-Promised Land: Bana Ba Thari Entsho", Constitutional Hill, Johannesburg, South Africa

Group Exhibitions

2021

Cologne Fine Art & Design (Sakhile&Me), Cologne, Germany
"Friendship. Nature. Culture," Daimler Art Collection, Berlin, Germany
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair (Sakhile&Me), London, UK
Photo London Digital (Sakhile&Me), London, UK

2020

"Spatial Fabrications: An Uninhabitable World", Fak'ugesi Festival, Johannesburg, South Africa
"Group Show", 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair (Sakhile&Me), London, UK
"Time in Transition", The Frankfurt Art Experience (Sakhile&Me), Frankfurt, Germany
"Group Show", Turbine Art Fair (LL Editions), Johannesburg, South Africa
"Figures", Sakhile&Me, Frankfurt, Germany

2019

"Personal Structures", European Cultural Center, Venice, Italy

2018

"Group Presentation", AKAA - Also Known As Africa (Red Room Gallery), Paris, France

2016

"Woza Moya", Goethe on Main Project Space, Johannesburg, South Africa
"Group Presentation", Affordable Art Fair (Vula Amehlo Art Development), New York, USA

2015

"See Africa", African Futures Festival (Goethe-Institut), Johannesburg, South Africa
"TWENTY: Art in the Time of Democracy", University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa; The Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria, South Africa; Beijing Biennale, Beijing, China

2014

"Only Parts", University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
"The Longest Night", University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
"South African Voices: A New Generation of Printmakers", Washington Printmakers Gallery, Washington, USA
"Sasol New Signatures", Association of Arts Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

2013

"Some Went Mad, Some Ran Away", University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
"Afrika Rea Bolela (Afrika Let's Talk): ARTiculating the Constitution", Constitutional Hill, Johannesburg, South Africa
"Afrika Day", Constitutional Hill, Johannesburg, South Africa
"North-South: Student Showcase", Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa; Central University of Technology, Bloemfontein, South Africa; University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa; Vaal University of Technology, Gauteng, South Africa

2012

"Images of Women", Upstairs at Bamboo (Vula Amehlo Art Development), Johannesburg, South Africa
"Bronze Age(less)", Pretoria Art Association, Pretoria, South Africa

2009

"Artist Proof Studio End-of-the-Year Exhibition", Artist Proof Studio, Johannesburg, South Africa, South Africa

2008

"Bell Dewar and Artist Proof Studio Patronage Exhibition", Bell Dewar, Johannesburg, South Africa, South Africa