MARY SIBANDE
(b. Barberton, South Africa, in 1982)

Mary Sibande’s work engages counter-historical narratives and the language of dress to animate the stories of South African women and critique western imperialist depictions of their lives. Drawing heavily from fashion design, she uses colour symbolism and coded motifs to construct her characters' identities. Working primarily in large-scale installation and photography, Sibande introduces viewers to her alter ego, Sophie, whose evolving form pays tribute to the lives of her mother and grandmother under apartheid. Though Sophie's attire references domestic servitude, Sibande reimagines her in a richly symbolic, dreamlike realm of empowerment and transformation. Sibande currently lives and works in Johannesburg. She obtained an Honours degree from the University of Johannesburg in 2007, following a Diploma in Fine Arts from the Witwatersrand Technical College, South Africa, in 2004.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023

The Armory Show (SMAC Gallery), Javits Center, New York, USA.

2022

The Wake, Kunstpalais, Erlangen, Germany.
Let me tell you about Red…, Durban Art Gallery, Durban, South Africa.
The Red Ventriloquist, MAC Lyon – Musée d’art Contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France.
A Red Flight of Fancy, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa.

2021

Blue, Purple, Red, Frist Art Museum, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Unhand Me, Demon!, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, USA.

2019

I Came Apart at the Seams, 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Somerset House, London, UK.
Leroy Neiman Gallery, New York City, USA.

2018

The Armory Show (Gallery MOMO), Piers 92 & 94, New York City, USA.
A Crescendo of Ecstasy, presented by The Mixed Reality Workshop (TMRW) in collaboration with Eden Labs, Keyes Art Mile; FNB Joburg Art Fair (TMRW), Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa.

2016

Right Now!, as part of Stellenbosch University’s Woordfees Festival, Stellenbosch University’s Art Museum, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
The Armory Show (Gallery MOMO), 92 & 94 Piers, New York City, USA.

2014

The Purple Shall Govern, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town; Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa.

2013

Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Lyon, France.
The Purple Shall Govern, Grahamstown National Arts Festival, Grahamstown; Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Museum, Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
The Purple Shall Govern, MAC/VAL Musée d’Art Contemporain di Val-de-Marne, Paris, France.
Mary Sibande and Sophie Ntombikayise Take Central Court, Central Court, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.
The Purple Shall Govern, MAC/VAL, The Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne, Vitry-sur-Seine, France; IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town; North-West University Gallery, North-West University, Potchefstroom; Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg; Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg; The National Arts Festival, Grahamstown; Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

2012

Mary Sibande and Sophie Ntombikayise Take Central Court, Central Court, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.

2010

Long Live the Dead Queen, Inner City Johannesburg, Exhibition of billboards on 19 buildings, Johannesburg, The Albany History Museum; Grahamstown, South Africa.

2009

Long live the Dead Queen, Gallery MOMO, Johannesburg, South Africa.

2006

My Madam’s Things, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025

ENGAGÉES, Fondation Villa Datris, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France.
Narratives in Focus, Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), Miami, FL, USA
Art et Vêtement: s’habiller en artiste, Louvre-Lens Museum, Lens, France.
Bold Women, Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.
Kings and Queens of Africa. Forms and Figures of Power. Louvre Museum Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE

2024

Africa Supernova, Kunsthal KAdE, in Amersfoort, Netherlands.
Death and the Devil: The Fascination with the Gruesome, Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Cooking Cleaning Caring, Josef Albers Museum, Bottrop, Germany.
Strategic Interplay: African Art and Imagery in Black and White, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH, USA.
MEMORIA: RÉCITS D’UNE AUTRE HISTOIRE, Fondation H, Antananarivo, Madagascar.

2023

FNB Art Joburg (SMAC Gallery), Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Textile Biennial, Museum Rijswijk, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
True Stories, MAC VAL - Val-de-Marne Contemporary Art Museum, Vitry-sur-Seine, France.
RMB Latitudes Art Fair (SMAC Gallery), Shepstone Gardens, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), Cape Town, South Africa.
Sharjah Biennial 15, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Back in Town, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa.
Insistent Presence, Chazen Museum of Art, Wisconsin, USA.

2022–2023

A Gateway To Possible Worlds. Centre Pompidou-Metz. Metz, France.

2022

FNB Art Joburg (SMAC Gallery), Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Dream Invisible Connections: Mary Sibande & Dorothy Kay, Strauss & Co, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Inner Landscapes, Bloom Galerie, Geneva, Switzerland.
Naughty Aughties, SMAC Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Art Brussels (SMAC Gallery), Tour & Taxis, Brussels, Belgium.
Klein Karoo National Arts Festival (KKNK), Oudtshoorn, South Africa.
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), Cape Town, South Africa.
Garmenting: Costume as Contemporary Art, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY, USA
Mary Sibande & Dorothy Kay, Strauss & Co Johannesburg, South Africa.

2021

Art Basel Miami Beach (Kavi Gupta), Miami Beach, USA.
West Bund Art & Design Fair (Bloom Galerie), West Bund Dome, Xuhui District, Shanghai, China.
Paris Photo Fair (Braverman Gallery), Braverman Gallery, Paris, France.
Weekend Special, Cape Town Art Weekend, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa.
Opening Exhibition, FNB Art Joburg, SMAC Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa.
TEXTURES: The History and Art of Black Hair, Kent State University, Ohio, USA. Investec Cape Town Art Fair (SMAC Gallery), Digital Event.
Black Luminosity, curated by Gcotyelwa Mashiqa, SMAC Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Margins of Error, NIROX Foundation Sculpture Park, Krugersdorp, South Africa.

2020

Breda Photo, Breda, Netherlands.
Investec Cape Town Art Fair (SMAC Gallery), Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), Cape Town, South Africa.
Reclaiming Power: Womxn and Intersecting Inequalities, Oxfam South Africa, The Worker’s Museum, Johannesburg, South Africa.
NOW LOOK HERE. The African Art of Appearance, Asterweg 17, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Making of Ourselves, BKHZ, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Radical Revisionists: Contemporary African Artists Confronting Past and Present, Moody Centre for the Arts – Rice University, Houston, USA.
Soos Familie / Like Family, Rupert Museum, Stellenbosch, South Africa.

2019

Ngoma: Art and Cosmology, curated by Musha Neluheni, Philippa van Straaten & Khwezi Gule, Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG), Johannesburg, South Africa.
Felix Fair (Kavi Gupta), Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, Los Angeles, USA.
Art Basel Miami (Kavi Gupta), Miami Beach, Miami, USA.
arteBOTANICA, Nirox Sculpture Park, Krugersdorp, South Africa.
Frieze London (Kavi Gupta), Regents Park, London, UK.
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair (SMAC Gallery), Somerset House, London, UK.
To Reclaim, Kavi Gupta, Chicago, USA.
That Was Then, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa.
My Africa: Our Art, Javett Art Centre, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
Open Borders, 14ᵃ Curitiba International Biennial of Contemporary Art, Curitiba, Brazil.
N’GOLÁ Festival of Arts, Creation, Environment and Utopias, São Tomé e Príncipe.
Ampersand Foundation Award 21 years celebratory exhibition, University of Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG), South Africa.
FNB Art Joburg (SMAC Gallery), Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Construction of the Possible, Havana Biennale, Havana, Cuba.
Made Visible: Contemporary South African Fashion and Identity, Boston Museum of Fine Art, Boston, USA.

2018

The Red Hour, curated by Simon Njami. Dak’Art: African Contemporary Art Biennale, Dakar, Senegal.
In Their Own Form, Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP), Chicago, USA.
Shifting Boundaries: A Selection of Works showcasing South African Women Artists of the Past 100 Years, Welgemeend, Cape Town, South Africa.
Not a Single Story, a collaboration between NIROX Foundation & The Wanås Foundation, Nirox Foundation Sculpture Park, Cradle of Human Kind, South Africa.
Continental Drift: Black / blak Art from South Africa and North Australia, Cairns Art Gallery, Cairns, Australia.
Like Life: Sculpture, Color, and the Body (1300–Now), The Met Breuer, New York City, USA.
Cultural Threads, Textile Museum, Tilburg, Netherlands.
Friends50, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa.
Extra/Ordinary, curated by Ceren & İlksen Arkman, Plugin New Media Section, Contemporary Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey.

2017

South Africa: The Art of a Nation, The British Museum, London, UK.
African Mosaic: Selections from the Permanent Collection, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA.
Dress Code, Gallery MOMO, Cape Town, South Africa.
1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair (Gallery Momo), Somerset House, London, UK.
Art on Paper, Gallery MOMO, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), Cape Town, South Africa.
The Evidence of Things Not Seen, Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG), Johannesburg, South Africa.
Another Antipodes/Urban Axis, PS Art Space, Fremantle, Australia. Beauty and Its Beasts, Durban Art Gallery, Durban, South Africa. Identity/Identity Avesta, Avesta Art, Sweden.
Deep Memory, Kalmar Art Museum, Kalmar, Sweden.

2016

Different Angels, Hohenwarth, Linz, Austria.
Desire, Association of Arts Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
Re[as]sisting Narratives (Travelling Exhibition), Framer Framed, Amsterdam, Netherlands; District Six Museum Homecoming Centre, Cape Town, South Africa.
A Place in Time, Nirox Foundation Sculpture Park, Krugersdorp, South Africa.
Selling the Shadow, curated by Ayana V Jackson, Gallery MOMO, Cape Town, South Africa.
Chicago Expo (Gallery MOMO) Chicago, USA.
After the Thrill is Gone, Fashion Politics and Culture South Africa, Richmond Center for Visual Arts, USA.
South Africa the Art of a Nation, British Museum, London, UK.

2015

Barriers – Contemporary South Africa, Wanås Konst Sculpture Park, Knislinge, Sweden.
Art exile, The Whitworth, Manchester, UK.
Between the Art and the Experience, Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba.
Twenty: Art in the Time of Democracy, UJ Arts Centre, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.
South African Art in a Time of Democracy, 6th Beijing International Art Biennale, Beijing, China.

2014

Where do I end and you begin?, Edinburgh Festival of Arts, Scotland.
Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival, Toronto, Canada.
Material Self: Performing the Other Within, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival, Toronto, Canada.

2013

Say it Loud!: Art by African and African-American Artists in the Collection, Norton Museum of Art, Florida, USA.
My Joburg, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden, Germany; La Maison Rouge, Paris, France.
Family Histories, Dishman Art Museum, Lamar University, Beaumont, USA.
Sibande on Campus: Mary Sibande Installation/New Work, Institute for the Humanities Gallery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Meanwhile…. Suddenly and Then, 12th Lyon Biennale, Lyon, France.

2012

Recent Additions: 2009-2012, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa.
The Rainbow Nation: Contemporary Sculpture from South Africa, Museum Beelden aan Zee, Hague, Netherlands.
Somehow, Somewhat in the middle of things, Liefde en De Grote Witte Reus Gallery, Hague, Netherlands.
Say it loud, Norton Museum of Art, Palm Beach, Florida, USA.

2011

(Re)constructions, Contemporary Art from South Africa, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói (MAC), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
ARS 11, Kiasma Museum for Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland.
Desire, Narratives in Contemporary South African Art, 54th Venice Biennale (South African Pavilion), Venice, Italy.
Paris Photo, Grand Palais, Paris, France.
BEYOND Re/PRODUCTION. MOTHERING, Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien, Berlin, Germany.

2010

From Pierneef to Gugulective: 1910-2010, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa.
Exposition du Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres, Dakar, Senegal.

Space: Currencies in Contemporary African Art, curated by Thembinkosi Goniwe & Melissa Mboweni, Museum Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa.

2008

Four Tales, Gallery MOMO, Johannesburg, South Africa.

2007

Dark and Lovely (5 Women), Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa.
I Love You Positive or Negative, Espace Simon Michel, Paris, France.

2006

Sasol Miniatures Exhibition Sasol, Johannesburg, South Africa.
ABSA L’ATELIER Awards Top 50 exhibition, ABSA Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa.
I Love You Positive or Negative, Alliance Francaise, Johannesburg, South Africa.

AWARDS & RESIDENCIES

2024-2025

Artist-in-residence at Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, USA

2024

Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, Knighthood by the French Government.

2023

Artist in residence, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, USA.

2021

Helgaard Steyn Award For Sculpture, Cape Town, South Africa.

2018–2019 

Virginia C. Gildersleeve Professor at Barnard College, Columbia University, New York City, USA.

2017

Smithsonian African Artist Award, National Mall, Washington, D.C., USA.
GLAMOUR Woman of the Year – Winner for Art Category, Johannesburg, South Africa.

2014

Artist in residence, Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship, Civitella Ranieri Centre, Umbertide, Italy.
Artist in residence, Musée Léon Dierx, Saint-Denis, Reunion Island, France.

2013 

Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Visual Arts, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Artist in residence, MAC/VAL Museum of Modern Art, France.
Artist in residence, Ann Arbor Fellowship, STAMPS School of Art & Design, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA.

2011

Artist in residence, Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship Program (SARF), Washington, D.C., USA.

2010

Artist in residence, Kunst:raum Sylt Quelle, Sylt, Germany.

2009

Artist in residence, Ampersand Foundation Fellowship, New York City, USA.

2008

Artist in residence, Prohelvetia-IAAB, Basel, Switzerland.

2006

Artist in residence, Cité des Arts International, Paris, France.

COLLECTIONS