Tessa Teixeira

Tessa Teixeira (b. 1969, Ermelo, South Africa) is a visual artist who completed a Bachelor's in Primary Education, majoring in Art, in 1991 through the University of the Witwatersrand. Her self-portrait from that time was preserved by the JCE Arts Department.

In her twenties and thirties, Tessa was deeply involved in projects addressing housing access in lower-income sectors. She founded an NGO, raised funds to build two primary schools for children who were receiving tuition under trees, and worked with The Mineworkers Development Agency, the development wing of The National Union of Mineworkers, addressing rural development and economic needs in South Africa.

In 2006, Tessa began to actively focus on her art practice, participating in various short art development programs in San Francisco and London in 2010 and 2011. She returned to Johannesburg at the end of 2011 and has since been developing her practice, focusing on Existential Philosophy and Ecology—Climate narratives, aligned with materiality exploration in Mixed Media, Painting, Installation, and Printmaking.

Since 2012, Tessa has exhibited, auctioned, and sold work for private collections in local and international group shows. Some recent exhibitions include: ‘1.5 Degrees’ in Berlin, Germany (2021), ‘What’s next for earth? - Depletion’ – MAHB, Stanford University, USA (2021), ‘Enviro Art gallery 2021’ – Dukes University, USA (2021), ‘Amref Artball Auction – pre-featured on Artsy – New York (2019), ‘Optimism’ Endless Editions Biennial in New York (2018), ‘Art of Lithography’ - The University of the Witwatersrand Museum (WAM), and a solo show - ‘Nothing stands still’ - Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre (2018).