Senzeni Marasela
BA Fine Art, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Marasela is a cross-disciplinary artist who explores photography, video, prints, and mixed-medium installations involving textiles and embroidery. The artist’s work deals with history, memory, and personal narrative, emphasising historical gaps and overlooked figures. She focuses on the experiences of black South African womanhood and the impact of apartheid legacies.
Marasela lives and works in Soweto, South Africa. After graduating, the artist completed a residency at the Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa, that culminated in the Gallery’s Fresh exhibition series featuring young South African artists. Subsequently, Marasela’s work has featured in prominent local and international public collections including the Newark Museum, New Jersey (USA) and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York (USA). The artist’s work is also represented in private collections such as the Leridon collection in Paris, France, and the Harry David collection in Athens, Greece.
Solo exhibitions include Sarah, Theodorah and Senzeni in Johannesburg, Art on Paper, Johannesburg, South Africa (2011); Waiting for Gebane, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art (MOCAA), Cape Town, South Africa (2020 – 2021); k21 Global Art Exhibition, k21 Museum, Düsseldorf, Germany (2023). Group exhibitions include representation at the 56th Johannesburg Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Italy (2015); I am … Contemporary Women Artists of Africa, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC (USA) (2019); Made Visible: Contemporary South African Fashion and Identity, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts (USA)(2019). The Power of My Hands — Africa(s): Women Artists, Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris (2021); and Witness: Afro Perspectives from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection, El Espacio 23, Miami (USA) (2020-2022).
In 2023 Marasela received the inaugural K21 Global Art Award sponsored by the Friends of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Senzeni Marasela joined VIAD in 2021.
