Born in 1988 in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, Nwabisa Ntlokwana is a Johannesburg-based contemporary visual artist whose practice explores themes of motherhood, identity, and material transformation. Working primarily with unconventional material. Ntlokwana transforms discarded and organic materials into sculptural forms that carry emotional weight and cultural resonance.

Her work is deeply personal, drawing from her experiences of motherhood and the memories of her late mother, who was a photographer and introduced her to the world of art at an early age. Through layered textures and tactile surfaces, Ntlokwana creates sculptural objects that serve as vessels of remembrance, resilience, and reflection. Her practice investigates the complexities of maternal identity, how women carry, nurture, and continuously reinvent themselves through cycles of care, inheritance, and transformation. Ntlokwana has participated in several exhibitions and sculpture fairs, gaining recognition withinSouth Africa’s contemporary art scene. Her work has been presented in group exhibitions with galleries such as The viewing room gallery, No End Gallery, and Melrose Gallery. She has also participated in notable art fairs that continue to expand the visibility of her sculptural language.

Most recently, she collaborated with Viviers Studio for the Cape Town Art Fair, bringing her sculptural sensibility into dialogue with contemporary fashion and design. Her current body of work, Motherwood, explores the relationship between wood and leather as materials that mirror the life cycles of motherhood, strength, endurance, and transformation. Through this ongoing series, Ntlokwana reflects on the layered nature of maternal identity and the ways in which memory, body, and material intersect. Based in Johannesburg, a city rich with cultural diversity and creative exchange, Ntlokwana continues to expand her practice while working toward her long-term vision of creating monumental sculptural work.