Lwando Dlamini, born in Eastern Cape, is a South African artist based between Cape Town and Johannesburg. Using oil paints and mixed media, his work explores the fragility of the human body, memory loss, and the complexities of black joy. His signature style features thick, textured brushstrokes and distorted figures that challenge conventional ideas of beauty. Inspired by lived experiences and social imagery, Dlamini's art delves into themes of resilience, discomfort, and liberation.
A graduate of the Ruth Prowse School of Art, Dlamini has exhibited at major art fairs, including FNB Art Joburg, Intersect Chicago, Investec Cape Town Art Fair, and African Galleries Now. His first solo exhibition, ‘Triumph’, debuted at EBONY/CURATED in 2020, followed by ‘Learning How to Be Less Afraid Brave’ in 2022. Among his accolades, he received the 2018 David Koloane Award, was a finalist in the Absa L'Atelier Art Competition, and won the August House Emerging Residency Artist Award in 2022. Committed to supporting emerging Black artists, he established an art prize at the Ruth Prowse School of Art.
Solo Exhibitions:
2022 LEARNING HOW TO BE LESS AFRAID BRAVE, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa
2020 Triumph, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022 Investec Cape Town Art Fair, EBONY/CURATED Main Booth B3, South Africa
2021 Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt, Open City, Keyes Art Mile, Rosebank,
Johannesburg, South Africa
8X8, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa
Investec Cape Town Art Fair Digital Event
EBONY/CURATED booth, Cape Town, South Africa
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, New York, United States of America
‘In [the] Loop, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa
‘In his work, Dlamini layers paint thickly onto the surface so that brushstrokes and palette knife marks are visible. This has become a distinct feature of his oeuvre. Dlamini highlights his commitment to testing the boundaries of his working mediums....... we are confronted with discomfort - images and figures that are curved and distorted, with certain features (eyes and lips in particular) exaggerated and others (nose and ears) minimised. These are extraordinary images not concerned with simple ideas of beauty — but rather, they are an investigation of fragility and the strangeness of life’. - Nkgopoleng Moloi
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Lwando Dlamini, born in Eastern Cape, is a South African artist based between Cape Town and Johannesburg. Using oil paints and mixed media, his work explores the fragility of the human body, memory loss, and the complexities of black joy. His signature style features thick, textured brushstrokes and distorted figures that challenge conventional ideas of beauty. Inspired by lived experiences and social imagery, Dlamini's art delves into themes of resilience, discomfort, and liberation.
A graduate of the Ruth Prowse School of Art, Dlamini has exhibited at major art fairs, including FNB Art Joburg, Intersect Chicago, Investec Cape Town Art Fair, and African Galleries Now. His first solo exhibition, ‘Triumph’, debuted at EBONY/CURATED in 2020, followed by ‘Learning How to Be Less Afraid Brave’ in 2022. Among his accolades, he received the 2018 David Koloane Award, was a finalist in the Absa L'Atelier Art Competition, and won the August House Emerging Residency Artist Award in 2022. Committed to supporting emerging Black artists, he established an art prize at the Ruth Prowse School of Art.
Solo Exhibitions:
2022 LEARNING HOW TO BE LESS AFRAID BRAVE, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa
2020 Triumph, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022 Investec Cape Town Art Fair, EBONY/CURATED Main Booth B3, South Africa
2021 Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt, Open City, Keyes Art Mile, Rosebank,
Johannesburg, South Africa
8X8, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa
Investec Cape Town Art Fair Digital Event
EBONY/CURATED booth, Cape Town, South Africa
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, New York, United States of America
‘In [the] Loop, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa
‘In his work, Dlamini layers paint thickly onto the surface so that brushstrokes and palette knife marks are visible. This has become a distinct feature of his oeuvre. Dlamini highlights his commitment to testing the boundaries of his working mediums....... we are confronted with discomfort - images and figures that are curved and distorted, with certain features (eyes and lips in particular) exaggerated and others (nose and ears) minimised. These are extraordinary images not concerned with simple ideas of beauty — but rather, they are an investigation of fragility and the strangeness of life’. - Nkgopoleng Moloi
