Kimathi Mafafo is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice ranges from embroidery, oil painting to installation. Born in the semi-arid Kimberley in the Northern Cape of South Africa, Mafafo questions historical stereotypes around gender inequality in Africa. She primarily focuses on celebrating the black female and abstracted forms placing them in often verdant imagery characterised by lush greenery and sensuous drapery, are far removed from the dusty mining town where she grew up.

‘While her compositions may burst with riotous plant life each leaf and frond remain meticulously executed. Her compositions are seductive in their level of detail yet remain curiously flat, emphasising their highly staged nature and the narrative element, which is central to her work. Her imagery is partly guided by her desire to celebrate the black female form, inspiring women to embrace their own worth and beauty. Her earliest works are partly autobiographical and tell the story of a woman withdrawing from the urban lifestyle and finding strength in nature and within herself. Mafafo works alongside Mustapha Saadu — a tailor from Ghana — with whom she has collaborated on a series of embroideries telling stories of women trapped under the weight of tradition and not fully realising their worth. Embroidery is an ancient transcendent, and Kimathi as an emerging female artist, has found solace in the art form, transforming herself and her artwork.’ - 'This Woman’s Work’: a brief reading of Kimathi Mafafo’s artwork's by Dr Same Mdluli, Arts Writer and Historian

Kimathi Mafafo’s artworks can be found in important public and private collections worldwide. Kimathi Mafafo’s practice in painting and embroidery work is a raw articulation of two mediums that have embodied the Black woman and/or female’s body within the tradition of woman’s work... In these, she creates a tension between becoming and being, concealing and revealing, retreating and showing up, all of which are an embodiment of the arduous negotiations Black women have to make in navigating their existence in society.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2022
‘Kgolagano – A Covenant’, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa

2021
‘Gestures From the Awakened Mind’, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, England

2019
‘Embolden’ at EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa

2018
Solo Presentation at Investec Cape Town Art Fair, EBONY/CURATED, South Africa

2017
‘Alone in Spring’, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa

2015
‘Withdrawn’, World Art, Cape Town, South Africa


GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023
Expo Chicago, EBONY/CURATED, Chicago, USA
Art Dubai, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Dubai, UAE
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, EBONY/CURATED, South Africa

2022
Also Known As Africa (AKAA), Paris, France
‘DIVERSITY’, Rupert Museum, Stellenbosch, South Africa
‘Geleceg(n)iDokumak’, CerModern Museum, Ankara, Turkey
‘(IM)MATERIALITY’, This Is Not A White Cube, Lisbon, Portugal
Art Paris, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Paris, France
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, EBONY/CURATED, South Africa

2021
‘A Very Loop Street Summer’, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa
‘Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt’, FNB Art Joburg, Open City, Keyes Art Mile, Rosebank, South Africa
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, EBONY/CURATED, London, England
‘Threads’, The Duende Art Project, Monastery of the Zwartzusters, Antwerp, Belgium
Presentation with This Is Not a White Cube, Lisbon, Portugal
‘Facing the Sun’, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Schloss Goerne, Germany
‘Knotted Ties’, Lobby Gallery, Christie’s New York, United States of America
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, (Virtual Representation) EBONY/CURATED New York, United States of America
‘In [the] Loop, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa

2020
‘Devils in The Details’, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, United Kingdom
FNB Art Joburg, South Africa
Intersect Chicago online edition of SOFA Expo, Chicago, United States of America
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London, United Kingdom
‘FEMINIST UTOPIA’ curated by Anelisa Mangcu, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town,
South Africa
LATITUDES Art Fair (Virtual Representation), EBONY/CURATED, Johannesburg, South Africa
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, New York, United States of America
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, EBONY/CURATED, South Africa

2019
‘Angel’, St Antoine Church, in association with Muse Contemporary, Istanbul, Turkey
‘Spotlight’, LATITUDES Art Fair, EBONY/CURATED, Johannesburg, South Africa
‘Botanica II’, Curated by Adele van Heerden for Art B Gallery, Bellville, South Africa
‘Textile’, Curated by Amy Pike for Dyman Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa
‘Filling in the Gaps’, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, EBONY/CURATED, South Africa
‘Connections’, Greatmore Studios, Cape Town, South Africa

2018
‘Also Known As Africa’ (AKAA) 2018, Paris, France
‘Summer Exhibition’, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa

2017
‘Colourchart’, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa
‘Turbine Art Fair’, EBONY/CURATED Stand, Johannesburg, South Africa
‘Art Africa Fair’, Cape Town, South Africa
‘A Painting Today’, Stevenson, Cape Town, South Africa

2016
‘Turbine Art Fair’, EBONY/CURATED Stand, Johannesburg, South Africa
‘Summer Exhibition’, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa

COLLECTIONS

OLYM, Abidjan, West Africa
Nelson Mandela Art Museum, Gqeberha, South Africa
The Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, Palm Beach, Florida, USA
William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberly South Africa
Standard Bank Corporate Art Collection, Johannesburg, South Africa
Africa First Collection, Israel
IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
The Art Bank of South Africa, Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa
The Irma Stern Museum, The University of Cape Town
Fondation H Museum, Antananarivo, Madagascar