nomThunzi Mashalaba

(b. 1979, South Africa)

nomThunzi Mashalaba is a South African artist currently working and living in Johannesburg. She graduated with a B-Tech (Fine Arts) from Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria in 2006. nomThunzi's artistic practice resides in an interdisciplinary field with concerns that revolve around ideas of exploring deeper into personal stories. Throughout her career Mashalaba has worked in a range of disciplines, including painting, printmaking, sculpture, video and even performance – choosing whichever medium best conveys an experience or idea. Her works often archive collections of individuals and reinterpret personal notes, family photos and other forms of documentation into textured works of art. She uses delicate layering, vivid colour and seemingly random bits of text that add ambiguity and intrigue to her creations. She plays with fragility of memory and perception, her work always ambiguous, and unresolved, evading clear definition. The narration of the work is intended to go beyond its original basis to the unpredictable shaping of something that is simultaneously the present, past, personal and otherwise. 

EDUCATION

2006    B-Tech (Fine Arts), Tshwane University of Technology, Tshwane, South Africa

2004    National Diploma in Fine Arts, Tshwane University of Technology, Tshwane, South Africa

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2018     

me without my shadow, my shadow without me, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa.

2014   

When Trees Meet Fire, Graskop, South Africa

2012 

Mamiya, Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Africa

2011   

Kushukwa Intambo, Maclear, South Africa

2010   

Square, Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Africa

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023

Winter, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2022

Winter, Everard Read, London, UK

2019   

Speculative Inquiry #1, Michaelis Galleries, Cape Town, South Africa 

2018   

Summer, Everard Read, London, UK

Imbewu, Greatmore Studios, Cape Town, South Africa

2017 

Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2014   

Hawk, Hangklip Art Week, Cape Town, South Africa

When Form Becomes Attitude, Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Africa

2013   

Crossing Boundaries, Virginia Commonwealth Gallery, Ar-Rayyan, Qatar

Paint: Experimental ventures into expanded painting, Brundyn + Gonsalves, Cape Town, South Africa

2012   

Hollard Art Exchange, Johannesburg, South Africa

Alptraum, travelling drawing exhibition, Berlin, Los Angeles, Cape Town

Matters Conceptual, Erdmann Contemporary, Cape Town, South Africa

15.15, Kunst Macht Schule, Hamburg, Germany

2011   

Black, the antithesis of fraudulent sensuality of cultures's facade. An experiment in voluntary asceticism, Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Africa

Tusseorde en avontuur/between order and adventure, Artscape, Cape Town, South Africa

Crossing Boundaries, VCUQ Gallery, Qatar

Something to Write Home About, Greatmore Studios, Cape Town, South Africa

2010   

Matters Conceptual, Erdmann Contemporary, Cape Town, South Africa

2009   

Sasol New Signature merit award, Pretoria, South Africa

Waste at Work, The Old Wine Cellar Gallery, Spier, Cape Town and Hollard, Johannesburg, South Africa

Aardklop National Art Festival, Potchefstroom, South Africa

2006   

Colour Blind performance, Aardklop Art Festival, Potchefstroom, South Africa

SELECTED PUBLIC INTERVENTIONS/SITE SPECIFIC PROJECTS

2007   

Prince Alberta Art Festival, Prince Albert, South Africa

Infecting the City, Cape Town, South Africa

RESIDENCES/EXCHANGE PROGRAMMES

2014    Progr, Bern, Switzerland

2011    Greatmore Studios, Cape Town, South Africa

2007    Greatmore Studios, Cape Town, South Africa

2006    Cultural Exchange Programme, Antananarivo, Madagascar