Turiya Magadlela
°1978, South Africa
Lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Turiya Magadlela is a South African artist who employs a unique exploration of textiles to address issues that shape a gendered and racialized society. She sews and embroiders nylon pantyhose, correctional service uniforms, prison sheets, and other conceptually loaded fabrics to address societal issues through conceptual investigation, exploring profound themes of racial and sexual discrimination, femininity, and eroticism. Her use of tights serves not only as a medium for creativity but also as a powerful symbol, drawing attention to skin colour and the complex social landscape of South Africa, employing art-making techniques traditionally associated with femininity and craft.
Magadlela’s art goes beyond mere visual representation. In live performances within the exhibition space, she sews tights on a sewing machine, offering a poignant commentary on labor conditions, gender disparities, and the enduring legacies of sexual and racial violence and abuse. In her latest series, Magadlela creates awe-inspiring tapestries from tights, transforming exhibition spaces into immersive environments reminiscent of cave-like structures. Through these monumental works, she invites viewers to contemplate the deeper implications of race, gender, and identity. These tapestries, akin to square keyholes of voyeurism, are stretched on wooden frames, inviting viewers to peer into a world fraught with historical and contemporary struggles. Prepare to be transported as Turiya Magadlela’s artistry challenges and inspires.
Magadlela studied at the University of Johannesburg and Rijksakademie, Amsterdam. Since winning the FNB Art Prize in 2015, and shortlisted for the Prix D’ Prat Prize, she has shown at the 2016 Armory Show and exhibited in Berlin, USA and Ghana. Her work was included in the acclaimed group show “Blue Black,” curated by artist Glenn Ligon at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis. Magadlela cuts, stitches, and folds her materials across wooden frames to create multilayered abstract compositions. Drawing from her experiences as a Black woman and a mother as well as from Black South African history, Magadlela’s works serve as vibrant celebrations of Black womanhood while simultaneously suggesting the implicit eroticization of and violence against the body.
Selected exhibitions:
Solo exhibitions:
2021, Would Say II, Ubuntu un rêve lucide — Palais De Tokyo, Paris (FR)
2021, A Few Good Friends - Motho Fela — LatchKey Gallery, New York City (USA)
2020, Mandisa — Nil Gallery, Cape Town (RSA)
2019, Mashadi WouldSay... — MSGSU Resim ve Heykel Muzesi, Santiyesi, Istanbul (TR)
2017, The Armory Show — Solo Exhibit for the Armory Show Presents, New York City (USA)
2017, Wabona lapho isifebe, wangena kuso — blank projects, Cape Town (RSA)
2015, Impilo ka Lova — blank projects, Cape Town (RSA)
2015, Kaffersheet — Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg (RSA)
2015, Imihuzuko (for the FNB Art Prize) — FNB Joburg Art Fair, Johannesburg (RSA)
2012, Everybody knows uFeela — blank projects, Cape Town (RSA)
Group exhibitions:
2024, Our Barren Womb Boys Weep — Kates-Ferri Projects, New York (USA)
2024, Signifying the impossible song — Southern Guild, Los Angeles (USA)
2024, Refuse the given world — Kalashnikov Gallery, Cape Town (RSA)
2024, Unlimited — Gallery 1957, Accra/London (GH/UK)
2024, Gather II — Smac Gallery, Cape Town (RSA)
2023, Africa Supernova — Collection Carla and Pieter Schulting, Kunstal Kade Amersfoort (NL)
2023, Dark Matters — Kates-Ferri Projects, New York (USA)
2023, A woman’s work — Jac Forbes Contemporary, Malibu (USA)
2023, Lean On Me — Ko Gallery, Lagos (NG)
2023, He Said She Said — Kates-Ferri Projects, New York (USA)
2023, Contemporary African Art Survey — Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort (NL)
2022, A Collection of African Portraits — Kunsthalle Krems, Vienna (AT)
2022, We Paint, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts de Paris — 10 years by Jean-François Prat Prize, Paris (FR)
2022, (De) Framing Identity and the body, I know you are, but what am I? — UMOCA, Utah (USA)
2022, Mama — PRIOR Art Space, Berlin (DE)
2022, 4000+years of African Art +Ans D’art African — Musee Wallhouse, Saint Barthélemy Foundation, La Fondation Gandur pour L’Art Geneve (CH)
2022, Shades of human nature: Storytelling, through resilient colour — Bloom Gallery, Geneva (CH)
2022, Home Strange Home — Kalashnikovv Gallery, Whatiftheworld Gallery and Krone Cap Classique, Tulbagh (RSA)
2022, Water is not for sale — Bloom Gallery, Saint Tropez (FR)
2022, Planet B. Climate Change and the new sublime II, Charles Darwin and the coral reef — Palazzo Bollani, Venice (IT)
2022, Planet B. Part III, The Tragic Death of Nauru Island — Palazzo Bollani, Venice Art Now (IT)
2022, African Galleries Now — Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, (RSA)
2022, Current Identities — BODE Projects and Bloom Gallery, Berlin (DE)