Isabella Maake

Isabella Maake is a contemporary visual artist from South Africa. Living with profound hearing loss from a young age, she has used art as a medium of expression and dreamed of becoming a full-time artist.After completing her undergraduate degree in Graphic Design, she went on to work as a graphic journalist for Media24, where she won several Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Awards, including Upcoming/Rising Star of the Year in 2017 and Graphic Journalist of the Year in 2020.

Isabella's art is deeply personal and explores themes of identity, dualism, and vulnerability– mostly depicted through portraiture and figurative art. As an artist who is deaf, she draws inspiration from the conceptual state of ‘in-betweenness’ and the possibilities that can exist between two contradictory things such as, black and white; past and present; hearing and deaf; and so on. Her subjects are usually people, as she believes each person contains an entire universe and is fascinated by the stories that lie within. As a multidisciplinary artist working primarily in paint, Isabella is driven by the desire to push the boundaries of traditional art forms by experimenting with different mediums and techniques which include painting, photography, sculpture, and interactive sound installations. She hopes to spotlight the beauty of human complexity and the interconnections we can forge despite perceived barriers.

Isabella's artworks have been exhibited in group exhibitions at the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London, and in her hometown of Polokwane, South Africa. In 2023, she was selected as a recipient of the prestigious Chevening leadership scholarship and is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Fine Art in Oxford, England.