Turiya Magadlela is well known for her abstract compositions which stretch, cut, stitch and reconfigure fabrics with loaded symbolic histories, such as pantyhose and correctional service uniforms. These works draw our attention to the everyday and often invisibilied violences mobilised against Black South Africans, women in particular. Experimenting with printmaking techniques for the first time, Magadlela and the team at Danger Gevaar Ingozi Studio in Johannesburg have created two screen prints using Magadlela’s signature stretched nylon. The resulting works are colourful abstractions that seem to put questions of femininity under the microscope. Magadlela studied at the Funda Community College (1998), the University of Johannesburg (1999 - 2001), and the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam (2003 - 2004). She has had solo exhibitions at the Johannesburg Art Gallery, Museum Africa and at blank projects. Magadlela has participated in several group exhibitions, both locally and internationally including Blue Black, curated by Glenn Ligon (Pulitzer Arts Foundation, 2017), Simple Passion, Complex Vision: The Darryl Atwell Collection (Gantt Centre, 2017), The Past is Present (Jack Shainman Gallery, 2017), Les jour qui vient’ curated by Marie-Ann Yemsi (Galerie des Galeries, 2017), Blackness in Abstraction (Pace Gallery, 2016) and The Quiet Violence of Dreams (Stevenson, 2016). In 2015, she was awarded the prestigious FNB Art Prize. Turiya has since exhibited work at major art fairs (Frieze, Art Basel and 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair) around the world and most recently was featured in the exceptional ‘Ubuntu, a Lucid Dream’ at Palais de Tokyo in Paris, curated by Marie-Ann Yemsi (Palais de Tokyo, 2021) and ‘WE PAINT!’ at Palais des Études des Beaux-Arts in Paris, curated by Cristiano Raimondi (Palais des Études des Beaux-Arts, 2022). In 2015, she was awarded the prestigious FNB Art Prize, and in 2018, was a finalist for the Jean-François Prat Prize.

Buy Great Art

by Iconic South African Artists

Highlights

from our collection

Buy Great Art

Support art writing that matters

We have two missions:

To produce affordable art by iconic artists

To produce the best South African art writing

Special Offers

Deals, bundles and great prices

Our Artists

Recent writing about our generous artists

All About Colour

All About Lines

All About Words

Faces and People

Monochrome

Photography

Portfolios