Lungiswa Gqunta (b. 1990, Gqeberha, South Africa) is an acclaimed contemporary multidisciplinary visual artist and educator whose powerful practice spans site-specific installation, sculpture, printmaking, and performance. Gqunta holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Nelson Mandela University (2012) and a Master of Fine Arts from the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town (2017). Her deeply researched studio practice intensely interrogates the complex dynamics of spatial exclusion, historical land dispossession, and the violent, lingering legacies of colonialism and patriarchy in post-apartheid South Africa.
Gqunta is celebrated for her deliberate use of ordinary, domestic everyday materials that are heavily charged with political, economic, and psychological meaning. By transforming objects like wooden bed frames, broken beer bottles, paraffin lamps, rusted nails, and razor wire into immersive installations, she exposes the invisible architectural barriers that dictate displacement and segregation. Her work reimagines these common items as weapons of resistance, reclaiming sacred space and actively challenging systemic inequalities rooted in race, class, labour, and gender.
As a co-founder of the historic Cape Town-based iQhiya Collective—a network dedicated to elevating Black female voices—Gqunta has achieved massive international visibility. She has held solo exhibitions at prominent global institutions, including the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds and the Zwirner Gallery in London. Her striking installations have also been featured in major international biennales, such as the Istanbul Biennial and Manifesta 12 in Palermo, cementing her reputation as an essential voice exploring structural trauma and spiritual healing.
Lungiswa Gqunta (b. 1990, Gqeberha, South Africa) is an acclaimed contemporary multidisciplinary visual artist and educator whose powerful practice spans site-specific installation, sculpture, printmaking, and performance. Gqunta holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Nelson Mandela University (2012) and a Master of Fine Arts from the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town (2017). Her deeply researched studio practice intensely interrogates the complex dynamics of spatial exclusion, historical land dispossession, and the violent, lingering legacies of colonialism and patriarchy in post-apartheid South Africa.
Gqunta is celebrated for her deliberate use of ordinary, domestic everyday materials that are heavily charged with political, economic, and psychological meaning. By transforming objects like wooden bed frames, broken beer bottles, paraffin lamps, rusted nails, and razor wire into immersive installations, she exposes the invisible architectural barriers that dictate displacement and segregation. Her work reimagines these common items as weapons of resistance, reclaiming sacred space and actively challenging systemic inequalities rooted in race, class, labour, and gender.
As a co-founder of the historic Cape Town-based iQhiya Collective—a network dedicated to elevating Black female voices—Gqunta has achieved massive international visibility. She has held solo exhibitions at prominent global institutions, including the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds and the Zwirner Gallery in London. Her striking installations have also been featured in major international biennales, such as the Istanbul Biennial and Manifesta 12 in Palermo, cementing her reputation as an essential voice exploring structural trauma and spiritual healing.
