Shirley Makhene
Soweto, Johannesburg
To buy a work or ask a question, tap Enquire or write to wovengarnet@gmail.com. Prices are in South African rand. Sold works stay on view until Tethered Ground closes on 13 October.
Shirley Makhene is a South African mixed media artist who began experimenting with collage during the 2020 Covid pandemic and has kept a daily art practice ever since.
They work in mixed media because it gives them freedom to experiment without limits, combining paint and collage elements into one simple, cohesive image.
Their style is a fusion of figuration and abstraction. Nature, colour, women and fashion are the recurring subjects, and the work is a love letter to Black culture and heritage: love for where we come from, for the people who carried us, and for a culture that taught us how to create even when we had little.
The process is playful, spontaneous and full of wonder. Mythical symbols carry a whisper from the past that honours their ancestors, drawn from everyday things like joy, memory and identity. They want a Black child to look at the work and say, that is me, that is us.