about

About the artist

Turiya Magadlela was born in 1978 in Johannesburg, South Africa. She studied at the University of Johannesburg and completed postgraduate research at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam in 2004.

Her practice centers on commonly found yet conceptually loaded fabrics, nylon pantyhose, correctional service uniforms, and prison sheets, which she cuts, stitches, and folds across wooden frames to create multilayered abstract compositions without paint.

Drawing from her experiences as a Black woman and mother, and from the broader histories of South Africa, her work navigates racial discrimination, femininity, eroticism, and the enduring legacies of colonial and gendered violence.

Her works are held in public and institutional collections, including the Johannesburg Art Gallery, the University of Cape Town, and the Société Générale Collection in France.

  • The FNB Art Prize is one of the most coveted art prizes on the African continent Latitudes Online, awarded annually at FNB Art Joburg to recognize outstanding talent in contemporary African art.

  • The Jean-François Prat Prize, established in Paris in 2012, promotes contemporary painting and supports emerging artists of any nationality. Being shortlisted in 2018 placed Turiya Magadlela among a select group of three artists chosen from a global search by a distinguished committee of international curators and critics.

  • The 16th Istanbul Biennial, titled The Seventh Continent and curated by renowned art historian Nicolas Bourriaud, brought together 57 artists and collectives from 26 countries, placing Turiya Magadlela's work at the heart of one of the world's most prestigious international contemporary art events.

  • Ubuntu, a Lucid Dream, curated by Marie-Ann Yemsi at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, brought together artists whose work resonates with the African philosophy of shared humanity and Turiya Magadlela's contribution, Would Say II, closed out the exhibition as its final, defining voice.

  • Blackness in Abstraction, curated by Adrienne Edwards at Pace Gallery New York, brought together 29 international and intergenerational artists to explore blackness as a powerful, animating force across seven decades of abstract art and Turiya Magadlela stood among that company alongside luminaries such as Robert Rauschenberg, Sol LeWitt, Steve McQueen, and Wangechi Mutu.

  • Blue Black, curated by artist Glenn Ligon at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis, brought together over fifty works spanning abstraction to portraiture using the colors blue and black to pose nuanced questions about language, identity, and perception and Turiya Magadlela's inclusion placed her textile practice in powerful dialogue with artists including Kerry James Marshall, Kara Walker, and Carrie Mae Weems.

  • The Armory Show is one of New York's most prestigious international art fairs and in 2016, its special Armory Focus: Africa section, curated by Yvette Mutumba and Julia Grosse, spotlighted contemporary artists from across the African continent, placing Turiya Magadlela's work before one of the world's most influential audiences of collectors, curators, and institutions.