Yonela Doda (b. 1998, Western Cape) is a Cape Town based multimedia artist who graduated with a Diploma in Fine Arts at the Ruth Prowse School of Art Class of 2020.

Doda mainly draws inspiration from the Catharsis Theory which was first used in a psychological context by Josef Breuer. Doda in her works shows this by experimenting with collage and thread work(s) to communicate the process of purging and cleansing that the Catharsis Theory speaks of. This she shows in the way that she explores and confronts how and why the body comes to matter, what the body can and is able to do as a material, bodies that she encounters and how sometimes these bodies are welcome and invited and sometimes they are not. Doda explores how the body never disappears from the sphere of self-representation but does however become other bodies/bodies of others (Westley,2008).

Doda’s ways of recalling her vulnerability, its heavens and hells might sometimes view as violent, which in some cases is. This however helps her not reject the self but instead visit and highlight those vulnerabilities and help herself heal.

Doda has had works up at the Everard Read Gallery as part of the CUBICLE SERIES titled JOY SORROW curated by Emma Jan Vandermerwe, the Zeitz MOCCA under a children’s exhibition titled AndSoTheStoriesRanAway curated by Liesl Hartman and Richard Kilpert. Doda also featured and won in a virtual group exhibition at ORMS Cape Town School of Photography titled DREAMED REALITIES. Doda featured in numerous Group Exhibition: THE MOVE curated by Phumelele Guma, PAST PRESENT CURRENTS curated by re_curators, DOGSFIGHT curated by Brett Seiler, GREATEST HITS GRADUATES 2020 curated by Mirjam Asmal, WHERE WE FOUND OURSELVES curated by Yonela Doda, BLAXPERIMENTA_THE FUTURE IN BOLD COLOUR BEYOND BINARIES curated by Beathur Mgozi Baker, HOUSE OF LOVE curated by Stephanie Blomkamp, JOBURG FRIDGE EDITION 14, ROMANCE curated by Luca Evans and Shayna Arvan, FEDE a group exhibition curated by Lebo Kekana, ANTI BOOTH curated by CHURCH PROJECTS presented at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, IFESTILE curated by Kim Makin presented for Surburbia Contemporary and MOMENTS IN TIME curated by Simona Stone for RK Contemporary.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025

‘Terrain’, EBONY/CURATED, Franschhoek, South Africa
‘Invisible Thread’, curated by Bonolo Kavula under INDEX for RMB Latitudes Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa


2024

‘iFestile’, pop-up exhibition curated by Kim Makin, Surburbia Contemporary, Cape Town, South Africa

‘Take a Moment’, curated by Simona Stone, RK Contemporary, Cape Town, South Africa

2023

‘Anti Booth’, curated by Church Projects, Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa

2022

‘Joy Sorrow’, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

‘Romance’, curated by Luca Evans and Shayna Arvan, Cape Town, South Africa

‘Fede’, curated by Lebo Kekana, Ghost, Cape Town, South Africa

2021

‘Greatest Hits Graduates’, Association for Visual Arts Art Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

‘Past Present Currents’, Association for Visual Arts Art Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

‘The House of Love’, Oath Vol II magazine launch, Cape Town, South Africa

‘Joburg Fringe Edition 14’, ArtRoom Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

2020

‘And So the Stories Ran Away’, an education collaboration between Zeitz MOCAA’s Centre for Education, the Michaelis School of Fine Art, and the Ruth Prowse School of Art, Cape Town, South Africa
and the Nyanga Arts Development Centre, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, South Africa

‘Dreamed Realities’, ORMS Cape Town School of Photography, Cape Town, South Africa

‘Past Present Currents’, Latitudes Art Fair (online presentation)

‘Dogsfight’, curated by Brett Seiler, Salt River, Cape Town, South Africa

2019

‘The Move’, The Move Gallery, Khayelitsha, South Africa