Sizwe Sama (b.1986) is a self-taught visual artist from Kwa-Zulu Natal, who learnt about art from his local library in Pietermaritzburg and from visiting the Tatham Art Gallery. The fabrics he uses in his tapestries are sometimes recycled from his own closet, or acquired for their specific visual impact and cultural references. The imitation tartans and Kente cloths used in these works draw attention to the intercultural translation of visual languages, and the ease with which cultural forms are appropriated and cross-pollinated in a globalised world.

For Sama, this plurality is always proudly celebrated. He sees his work as a tribute to the LGBTQI+ community, as calls to freedom and self-expression, just as art-making has allowed him to express his own queer identity.

As much as his work is a highly visible outward celebration of queer personhood, it is also deeply rooted in his personal experiences and memories. Sama learned sewing by hand from his mother, a seamstress who raised him and his brother alone, and who mended their clothes in particular ways.

Sama has exhibited in multiple group shows with Guns & Rain and had his first solo with the gallery in 2022. He has also recently shown work at Galerie Christophe Person in Paris, and at the KZNSA Gallery in Durban, as well as at Duende Art Projects in Antwerp, Belgium, MOV’ART in Lisbon, Portugal, and by Africa First/Gordon Gallery in Tel Aviv, Israel. His work already sits in multiple international and local collections, including the AMAWAL (Spain), ARAK (Qatar) and Africa First (Israel) Collections.

Lady Skollie (AKA Laura Windvogel) is a feminist artist and activist based in Johannesburg, South Africa. She graduated with a degree in History of Art and Dutch Literature from the University of Cape Town in 2009. Filled with bold colour, god-like figures and suggestive fruits, Lady Skollie’s ink, watercolour and crayon paintings revolve around themes of gender, sex and the politics of lust, consumption, as well as her musings on identity.

The artist’s work has been exhibited widely across South Africa, and at a number of international solo and group exhibitions and fairs. In 2017, along with Tschabalala Self and Abe Odedina, the artist contributed artwork for the stage design of a gala performance of The Children’s Monologues, a benefit held by the charitable organisation Dramatic Need, directed by Danny Boyle and held at Carnegie Hall in New York, NY, USA. She has been featured on BBC Africa and CNN International on African Voices, as well as on the BBC World Service’s online and radio series In the Studio. She was also included in the 2018 edition of OkayAfrica’s 100 Women, an annual list which honours women across 10 different fields for their achievements and influence.She was recognised with the 2019 Mbokodo Award for Art and Design, which honours the pioneering spirit of South African women advancing the arts.

In 2019, Windvogel was commissioned to design the new R5 coin to commemorate 25 years of constitutional democracy in South Africa.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2020 Bound, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa 2019 Good & Evil, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa Weakest Link, Eastside Projects, Birmingham, UK 2017 Lust Politics, Tyburn Gallery, London, UK Fire with Fire, solo stand at FNB Joburg Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa Mating Dance, solo stand at AKAA Art Fair, Paris, France Hottentot $kollie, Tomorrows/Today, Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa 2015 One-Night, WorldArt Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 2015 Vroeg Ryp, Vroeg Vrot, RAMP Project, Stevenson Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa 2014 Skattie Celebrates Series, Association for Visual Arts Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2020 Against Interpretation, Everard Read, London, UK Staring Straight to the Future, online exhibition, Everard Read, South Africa & UK Masterpiece online, with Everard Read, London, UK 2019 CONTEXT Art Miami, with Everard Read, Miami, USA 2018 Old Masters / New Realities: Gerard Sekoto x Lady Skollie, TMRW Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa This Is the Gallery and the Gallery Is Many Things X at Eastside Projects, Birmingham, UK Close: Proximity, Intimacy, Tension, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa Right at the Equator, Depart Foundation, Malibu, CA, USA Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Tyburn Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 2016 1:54 Fair, with Tyburn Gallery, London, UK SEX, Stevenson Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa