Yolanda Mazwana
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b. 1996 - Port Elizabeth, RSA
Yolanda Mazwana is a self-taught artist. Her work addresses themes around mental illness, phobias, popular culture, and relationships. The painter synthesises elements of abstract expressionism, neo-expressionism and symbolism. Mazwana’s series ‘Symptoms of Nothing‘ (2019) uses colour and texture to mimic the ambiguous experiences of a person suffering from hypochondria. This symbolic use of colour and texture speaks to the idea that the hypochondriac is not necessarily aware of what exactly it is they are experiencing or why. The body of work presented in her first solo exhibition ‘Secret Homegirls‘ (2019) centres around the observation of the agoraphobic secret homegirls.
In the same year Mazwana received The Bag Factory Young Woman Studio Bursary, Johannesburg, and in 2020, she was awarded the second prize for the Emerging Painting Invitational Prize, Harare, Zimbabwe. She has recently participated in the NIROX Foundation Artist Residency as well as THE FOURTH Artist Residency Programme in South Africa. Her work has been shown at various public as well as private destinations in South Africa and Berlin, Germany.
Mazwana says, “I paint unusual formative characters to connect the dots about the questions around the female body, and what it goes through. I vent about the vulnerabilities of the mind, the emotions, the reproductive system and how our physical and physiological responses to trauma affect us. How our bodies respond to medications and the things that go misdiagnosed, The things that are going to be dismissed and forgotten, the things we have to protect ourselves from. The things we choose to keep hidden, to be healed and protected.
Selected Press:
Reflections on a Residency: Yolanda Mazwana’s ‘After Midnight’ Series (Between 10and5)
Eight Emerging Sa Artists To Look Out For In 2021 (Business Day - Wanted Online)
15 African Artists On The Rise (Arsty)
Art In The Age of Instagram (Business Daily)
Unfixed Unsettled Pink: On Yolanda Mazwana and Penny Siopis (ArtThrob)
Yolanda Mazwana Uses Different Modes Of Expressionism To Speak About The Psyche (Bubblegum Club)
Where Do I Belong (Between 10and5)
A Comprehensive Look At South African Femme Artists Practicing Surrealism And Expressionism (Bubblegum Club)
Selected Solo & Duo Exhibitions
2023 The Topographies of Healing - Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, RSA
2022 Read the Room - Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, RSA
2021 Mazwana | Mkonto - The Fourth, Cape Town, RSA
2021 After Midnight - Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, RSA
2019 Symptoms Of Nothing – Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, RSA
2019 Secret Homegirls – Daville Baillie Gallery, Johannesburg, RSA
Selected Group Exhibitions & Projects
2022 Woman to Woman - Bode Projects, Berlin, GER
2021 Nu Wave - Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, RSA
2021 From Present to Pivot - Kalashnikovv Gallery and The Bag Factory, Oxford Parks, Johannesburg, RSA
2021 The Next Movement - Kalashnikovv Gallery in collaboration with Merchantec Capital, Illovo Point, Johannesburg, RSA
2021 Winter Group Show - Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, RSA
2020-1 If Yesterday Was Tomorrow What Is Today - Bode Projects, Berlin, GER
2020 Emerging Africa Art Prize Finalist Group Exhibition (Online Exhibition)
2020 A Catalogue of Contemporary Emerging African Art - JAH Gallery, Johannesburg, RSA
2020 Kernel - Mason's Press, Cape Town, RSA
2020 Apartment 2.0 x THEFOURTH - Cape Town, RSA
2020 Captive Audience - Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, RSA
2020 Co-Existence - TMRW Gallery, Johannesburg, RSA
2020 Summer Salon – The Bag Factory, Johannesburg, RSA
2019 RMB Talent Unlocked 2019 Programme – RMB Turbine & Assemblage, Johannesburg, RSA
2017 My First Time – Touch of Genius Gallery, Randburg, RSA
2017 A New Black – Afropunk Festival, Johannesburg, RSA
Residences & Awards
2022 Banditto Residency, Banditto Residency, Tuscany, ITA
2021 NIROX Residency, NIROX Foundation, Krugersdorp, RSA
2020 2nd Prize for the Emerging Painting Invitational (EPI) Prize, Harare, ZIM
2019 The Bag Factory Young Woman Studio Bursary, The Bag Factory, Johannesburg, RSA
Art Fairs
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, RSA: 2024 / 2023 / 2022 / 2020
FNB Art Joburg Fair, Johannesburg, RSA: 2023 / 2022 / 2021 / 2020 / 2019
Untitled Miami, Miami Beach, USA: 2022
AKAA, Paris, FRA: 2022
Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg, RSA: 2021 / 2020 / 2019
African Art Galleries Now Art Fair with A.A.G.A and Artsy Online: 2020