Manyaku Mashilo

Manyaku Mashilo was born in 1991 in Limpopo, South Africa, and is currently based in Cape Town. Her multidisciplinary practice encompasses mixed media painting, drawing, and collage, addressing themes of spiritual identity, memory, ancestry, community and belonging. Drawing on inspiration from photographic archives, she depicts scenes where imaginary characters migrate through fantastical worlds between unknown places and rituals of shared belief. Mashilo’s characters are often represented through portraits set in abstract cosmological landscapes. Her scenes are visual stories that offer a plurality of imagined futures; piecing together mappings of time, place, space and making sense of a rich tradition of African spirituality and identities.

In 2023 Mashilo presented her solo exhibition An Order of Being at Southern Guild in South Africa. Her work has appeared in group exhibitions around the world, including Mother Tongues at Southern Guild in the USA (2024); Spectrum: On Color & Contemporary Art at MoAD (Museum of the African Diaspora), USA (2023); Africa Supernova at Kunsthal KAdE in the Netherlands (2023); Rites of Passage, curated by Péjú Oshin at Gagosian Gallery, UK (2023); SCENORAMA, curated by Gabi Ngcobo at the Javett Centre, South Africa (2022); 40 under 40 at Krone | WHATIFTHEWORLD in Tulbagh, South Africa (2021); and The Medium is the Message curated by Azu Nwagbogu at Unit London in the UK (2020).

She has also been part of several international art fairs: The Armory Show, USA (2023 and 2024 upcoming); EXPO CHICAGO, USA (2023 and 2024); Investec Cape Town International Art Fair in South Africa (2023 and 2024); 1-54 African Contemporary Art Fair (2022) in London, and ArtXLagos in Nigeria (2021).

Mashilo’s work forms part of the Pizutti Collection, Schulting Art Collection, Tiroche Deleon Collection and The Suzie Wong Collection, as well as private collections in the United Kingdom, Nigeria, Korea and United States of America.