Turiya Magadlela

Turiya Magadlela’s work balances politically charged narratives with an acute aesthetic sensibility. “Blocks of fabric in brilliant scarlet, pinks and oranges suggest an exuberant celebration of womanhood, a refusal to allow oneself to be downtrodden”, as world-renowned artist and author Sue Williamson has observed in ArtReview. In 2015, Magadlela was awarded the prestigious FNB Art Prize judged by respected curator Bisi Silva and Koyo Kouoh, Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa since 2019.

Magadlela studied at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam (2003–2004), amongst others. Solo exhibitions include the Johannesburg Art Gallery in 2015. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions, both locally and internationally, including Blue Black, curated by Glenn Ligon (Pulitzer Arts Foundation, 2017); The Past is Present (Jack Shainman Gallery, 2017); Les jour qui vient, curated by Marie-Ann Yemsi (Galerie des Galeries, 2017); Blackness in Abstraction (Pace Gallery, 2016) and The Quiet Violence of Dreams (Stevenson, 2016).