Yonela Makoba is a transdisciplinary artist. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental and Geographic Science and a Master’s degree in Theatre and Performance from the University of Cape Town. Her practice encompasses photography, performance art, installation, mixed media, and printmaking, engaging deeply with themes of memory, indigenous knowledge systems, and the body. Makoba’s research investigates the intersections of personal and collective memory through an
autoethnographic lens.

Notable projects include iTi Ritual Studies, a multi-sensory exploration of rituals centered on ‘tea’, reimagining the ‘women’s space’ and honouring the archive of women’s knowledge. This work combines movement, symbolism, and listening to sacred knowledge to create transformative spaces for remembering.

Makoba’s work has been exhibited in solo and group shows and is held in the collections of the Iziko National Museum and the University of Cape Town. Her art interrogates and reconfigures narratives of belonging, memory, and transformation, bridging past, present, and future.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2025
‘iTi: Ritual studies | Lomfazi Yindoda’, Constitution Hill, Johannesburg, South Africa

2020
‘Kwantlandlolo; prays for tabula rasa’, Orms, Cape Town, South Africa

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025
‘Terrain’, EBONY/CURATED, Franschhoek, South Africa

2024
‘Time goes by, Time goes bye bye’, The Ramp, Cape Town, South Africa

2023
‘Ready to Launch’, The Ramp, Cape Town, South Africa

2022
‘A pebble in the mouth’, Off The Grid, Turbine Art Show, Johannesburg, South Africa
‘Within the fold’, Smac Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa
‘BODYLAND- As site for contemplation’, UJ Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, South Atlantic Press, Cape Town, South Africa
‘Death Row Dinner’, The Fourth, Cape Town, South Africa

2021
‘Past Present Currents’, Association of Visual Arts, Cape Town, South Africa

2020
‘Feminist Utopia’, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa
‘Past Present Currents’, Latitude Visual Art Fair, (online presentation)

PERFORMANCE

2025
iTi: Ritual Studies | Floor reading for the Soil Constellation zine in collaboration with Lindokuhle Nkosi, Defunct Context, Cape Town, South Africa

2024
A Ritual Study of the Conservation of Energy [iTi: Ritual studies iteration], Live Art Festival with the Institute of Creative Arts ICA, Cape Town, South Africa

2023
Lamentation Ritual at Black River and Liesbeek River with community of artists, Cape Town, South Africa
Untitled, Church Projects Antibooth, Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa

2022
Workers day (observed), BODYLAND- As site for contemplation opening, UJ Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
A shrine for the dead, dying and gagged, BODYLAND- As site for contemplation, Investec Art Fair, South Africa

2020
imiMangaliso opening precession, Kwantlandlolo; prays for tabula rasa, Orms, Cape Town, South Africa

COLLECTIONS

Iziko National Museum, Cape Town, South Africa
University of Cape Town Art Collection, Cape Town, South Africa

RESIDENCIES

2025
Young/Unframed Residency Program by Bag Factory, Johannesburg, South Africa

2022
Performing the Object: Props, Puppets & Masks mentorship with William Kentridge at The Centre of the Less Good Idea, Johannesburg, South Africa

2021
Vipassana 10 day course at Dhamma Pataka, Cape Town, South Africa
Print Making hosted by South Atlantic Press, Cape Town, South Africa

2020
Bodyland Residency hosted by Victory of the Word, Hogsback, Eastern Cape, South Africa

2019
Orms Circle Residency hosted by Orms, Cape Town, South Africa

2018
Anybody Zine Movement Residency by Anybody Zine, Cape Town, South Africa