Working in layers of paint and paper, Ntlonti gradually builds up her works on canvas by intuitively applying and stripping away material to reveal chance compositions. The resulting surfaces of her works, resembling topographical charts or maps, summon landscapes charged with nostalgia and longing, raising questions of homeland and homeplace and proposing an alternative way to map the world through material process. Ntlonti describes her acts in terms of digging, revealing, and healing scars of intergenerational trauma stemming from violence and displacement experienced by Black communities. Her labor-intensive method foregrounds physical effort as part of the work’s meaning: repair is slow, tactile, and deliberate; for Ntlonti, the act of stitching functions as both therapy and witness.
To date, Ntlonti has had five solo exhibitions: Gqal’emgqubeni (2025), Inzonzobila (2024), Vuthulula (2021), Nothwala impahlana (2020) and Kukho Isililo Somntu II (2017). Recent group exhibitions include Lifelines at Eva Livijn Art Space, Stockholm (2026), We, The People: 30 Years of Democracy in South Africa at Norval Foundation, Cape Town (2025), Eighteen Painters at Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York (2024) and The Future is Behind Us at A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town (2022).
Her work is represented in several notable private and public collections, including the Women’s Art Collection at the University of Cambridge (UK) and Stockholm Konst city art collection (Sweden).
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curriculum vitae
1993 Born in Cape Town, South Africa
education
2017 Bachelor of Fine Art, University of Cape Town
solo exhibitions
2025 Gqal’emgqubeni, blank projects, Cape Town
2024 Inzonzobila, blank projects, Cape Town
2021 Vuthulula, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town
2020 Nothwala impahlana, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town
2017 Kukho Isililo Somntu II, blank projects, Cape Town
group exhibitions
2026 Lifelines, Eva Livijn Art Space, Stockholm
2025 Fragment II, Commune Gallery, Vienna
2024 We, The People: 30 Years of Democracy in South Africa, Norval Foundation, Cape Town
2024 Eighteen Painters, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York
2023 The Orange River, SixtySix London, London
2022 The Future is Behind Us, A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town
2022 Seeds of the Fig, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Tulbagh
2022 Home Strange Home, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Tulbagh
2022 The Phoenix Runway, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town
2021 Space & Place, Galerie EIGEN + ART, Leipzig
2021 021 - 2021, Stevenson, Amsterdam
2019 “SANS”, Open24hrs, Cape Town
2019 The Female Line, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town
2019 Unresolved Category, Gallery MOMO, Cape Town
2019 Do you know these 5 Women Artists?, North West University Gallery, Potchefstroom
2018 Sunday Service, Gallery of the University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch
2017 Greatest Hits, AVA Gallery, Cape Town
2016 Barclays Absa L’Atelier Art Awards, Absa Art Gallery, Johannesburg
2015 Sasol New Signatures, Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria
selected performances
2019 ... Between my finger and my thumb the squat pen rests. I'll dig with it, Infecting the City, The Slave Lodge, Cape Town
2016 The Portrait (Performance with iQhiya), Documenta 14, Kassel and Athens
2016 iQhiya, AVA Gallery, Cape Town
2016 Ukuzila: ndiyakuthanda sis'Nosipho, ndiyakuthanda sis’wam, Infecting the City, Cape Town
2016 The Commute Pt II, Institute For Creative Arts, University of Cape Town, Cape Town
2016 The Commute Pt I, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town
2016 The Portrait II, V & A Waterfront, in association with Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town
2016 The Portrait I, Greatmore Studios, Cape Town
2016 Echoing Voices from Within: Rhodes Must Fall, University of Cape Town, Cape Town
