Moshekwa LANGA (b. 1975)
Fairyland
1998/1999
mixed media on paper
100 x 140 cm
Untitled
2004
mixed media on paper
140 x 100 cm
BIOGRAPHY
Moshekwa Langa was born in Bakenberg, Limpopo. His multidisciplinary approach spans drawing, installation, video, and photography, often including materials from his immediate environment to explore themes of personal and collective memory, identity and transformation. Having grown up during the apartheid era in a rural ‘homeland’, he frequently addresses physical and psychological borders in his work, examining how these boundaries impact his identity and inner narratives.
Langa studied at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam in 1997 – 98, and currently lives and works in Paris and Amsterdam. He gained international recognition in the late 1990s, participating in numerous significant exhibitions, such as the biennales of Johannesburg (1997), Istanbul (1997), São Paulo (1998, 2010), and Venice (2003, 2009), among others. His work has been exhibited at prestigious institutions like the Kunsthalle Bern, Modern Art Oxford, and the Krannert Art Museum.
Langa’s practice often involves creating large-scale works on paper that blend ephemeral marks with dreamlike, poetic elements. His art visualises emotions and experiences that are difficult to articulate in words and resonates with a sense of introspection and psychic puzzlement. His ability to weave personal experiences into broader socio-political narratives has made his work a powerful commentary on issues of displacement, trauma and belonging.
More recently, Langa’s exhibitions include Sowing Watermelon Seeds in Lagos (2024), You to Me, Me to You at A4 Arts Foundation in Cape Town (2023) and A Clearing in the Forest at Tate Modern, UK (2022).
His works have featured in significant group shows like Africa Remix and The Short Century, which highlight the relevance of contemporary African art in global discourse and question the geographical and cultural categories that burden the field.