Mathabang 'Matty' Monethi is a Lesotho born artist using painting, printmaking and text to explore the personal dimensions of migration and memory. Raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Monethi draws on the memories of her own experiences, as well as family photographs from her childhood, to create emblematic pictorial scenes punctuated by empty space and text. Her evocative representational works address evolving selfhood, the depiction of the past, and the relationship between personal archives and nostalgia.

Monethi completed her Diploma in Fine Art at the Ruth Prowse School of Art in Cape Town in 2016, and in 2017 embarked on a semester abroad at the University of Hertfordshire, in the United Kingdom, where she specialised in printmaking. In 2020 Monethi completed a BA in Fine Arts at the Wits School of Arts in Johannesburg. Monethi collaborated with David Krut Projects and the David Krut Workshop in April 2022, where she created unique works on paper with printer Sbongiseni Khulu during her short residency. This residency was part of a larger collaboration project with FORMS Gallery and the founder Anthea Buys, culminating in a 3-person show at David Krut Gallery along with Khotso Motsoeneng and Adrian Fortuin, titled 'Parallel Process’.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023
‘Hiatus’, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa
16th ART AUSTRIA Art Fair, Schutz Art Museum, MuseumsQuartier, Vienna, Austria

2022
Leribe/Linare Context, RunFree & Lesotho Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mahlakapese, Leribe, Lesotho
StART Art Fair London, StART Art Global, Saatchi Gallery, London, United Kingdom
‘Paperworks’, FORMS Gallery, Plettenberg Bay, South Africa
Turbine Art Fair, FORMS Gallery, Oxford Parks, Rosebank, South Africa
‘Parallel Process’, David Krut Projects, Johannesburg, South Africa
‘Time Is A Broken Umbrella’, FORMS Gallery, KZNSA, Durban, South Africa
‘Location’, Location Studio Practice, AVA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
‘Time Is A Broken Umbrella’, FORMS Gallery, AVA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
StART + Cape Town, StART Art Global, 131 A Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2021
Propelling Otherness, Morija Museum & Archives + Morija Arts Centre, Morija, Lesotho
Turbine Art Fair 2021, FORMS Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
‘En(In)vision’, Latitudes Online [Online], Johannesburg, South Africa
‘Locus/Location’, Latitudes Online [Online], Johannesburg, South Africa
‘Emergence’, FORMS Gallery [Online], Johannesburg, South Africa
OSAWAAE (Oakland’s South And West African Artists Exchange), Joyce Gordon Gallery, California, United States

2020
NEWWORK20, University of the Witwatersrand [Online], Johannesburg, South Africa
SPHERE, BLVCK BLOCK, The Artivist, Johannesburg, South Africa

2019
Bridging The Gap, KOP Collective, Gallery MOMO, Johannesburg, South Africa
Publication Launch, Switch Code, Keleketla! Library, Johannesburg, South Africa
Bibliotheca 700, Art Source South Africa, Bag Factory, Johannesburg, South Africa
Africa Art Collective, Julie Miller Art Institute, Mall of Africa, Midrand, South Africa

2018
Queer Art Exhibition, Activate Wits, Wits School of Art, Johannesburg, South Africa

2017
The Spring Show, Ruth Prowse School of Art, Cape Town, South Africa
Virtual Art Herts, University of Hertfordshire, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom

2016
Ruth Prowse Grad Show 2016, Ruth Prowse School of Art, Cape Town, South Africa

2015
The Creative Woodstock Experience Documentaries, The Belle Studio, Cape Town, South Africa

2014
The Name of the Rose, Rust-en-Vrede Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Ruth Prowse Mid Year Exhibition, Ruth Prowse School of Art, Cape Town, South Africa

RESIDENCIES

2023
Schutz Fine Art Artist-in-residence program, Schutz Art Museum, Engelhartszell, Austria

2022
David Krut Workshop X FORMS Gallery Residency, David Krut Projects & FORMS Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

2020
BLVCK BLOCK Residency (1 – 31 July 2020) BLVCK BLOCK & The Thabo Mbeki Foundation Online

PROJECTS

2021
Vry_Blvk’s Salon, The Point of Order, Johannesburg, South Africa

2019
BMW Midrand Campus Art Project (2019 – 2020) BMW Group & The University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa