Buqaqawuli Nobakada

Buqaqawuli Nobakada (b. 2000, Western Cape) is an emerging contemporary mixed media artist who was introduced to Fine Art in Johannesburg at the beginning of her adolescence. Her primary medium is acrylic paint on laced paper, often incorporating custom clay and gold jewelry, which adds a layer of detail and dimensional to her works. Her art poignantly expresses the Black, female experience, exploring themes of femininity, identity, and the responsibility of taking up space.

Nobakada work seeks to create imagery that young girls, especially Black girls, can see and understand as spaces they can inhabit. She believes that art is not frivolous but an inherent requirement for shifting, healing, and articulating human consciousness.

Nobakada has participated in numerous exhibitions, including the I Am & Nothing Else group exhibition at Affinity Art Gallery in Lagos, Nigeria, and the Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt Open City group exhibition by FNB Art Joburg. Nobakada's recent works showcase luxury settings, painting women in imagined luxurious architectural spaces as a form of manifestation and a love letter to her younger self.

Nobakada's artistic process involves preparing paper with lace fabric and then painting on the prepared surface, creating a stippled effect that adds complexity to her figures. Her works are autobiographical, reflecting her own navigation of femininity and sensuality in a changing world. The women she paints are often from her immediate surroundings, capturing the beauty and femininity she observes.

Nobakada's vision as a young artist in South Africa is to collaborate and engage with other artistic disciplines on a global level. She is inspired by South African artists showcasing their work internationally and collaborating with renowned brands. Nobakada believes in the importance of art in anthropological study, as a reflection of people, beliefs, and collective memory.