Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi

Ceremony, 2020 • Oil on Canvas

Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi was born in New York in 1980. As part of a family living in exile from South Africa, the artist’s early life was framed by the comparative realities of race relations in South Africa and the United States. She was raised in New York, Harare and Johannesburg where she currently lives.

Ceremony, 2020 / 115x145cm / Oil on canvas / Courtesy of the artist and Stevenson, Cape Town / Johannesburg / Amsterdam. / ©Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi / Photo: Nina Lieska

Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi obtained her BA from Harvard University (2004) and her MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York (2008). She divides her time between studio work, performance, and navigating the field of art as social practice.

Group exhibitions include Resistance Training: Arts, Sports, and Civil Rights at the Broad Museum of Art, Michigan State University (2023); Fix Your Pony, Naughton Gallery at Queen’s University, Belfast (2023); CHAMPS, Granville Centre Art Gallery, Cumberland (2023); Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, Orlando Museum of Art, Florida (2023); When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town (2022); New Formations, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Massachusetts, USA (2022); How to Make a Country, FRAC Poitou-Charentes, Angoulême, France (2021); and Mixed Company, Norval Foundation, Cape Town (2021).

Groepuitstallings sluit in Resistance Training: Arts, Sports, and Civil Rights in die Broad-kunsmuseum, Staatsuniversiteit van Michigan (2023); Fix Your Pony, Naughton-galery by Queen’s-Universiteit, Belfast (2023); CHAMPS, Granville-sentrum se kunsgalery, Cumberland (2023); Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, Orlando-kunsmuseum, Florida (2023); When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting, Zeitz Mocaa, Kaapstad (2022); New Formations, deCordova-beeldhoupark-en-museum, Massachusetts, VSA (2022); How to Make a Country, FRAC Poitou-Charentes, Angoulême, Frankryk (2021); en Mixed Company, Norval Stigting, Kaapstad (2021).

She has received grants from Pro-Helvetia (2019); Goethe-Institut (2018, 2010); National Arts Council of South Africa (2015, 2009); Virginia Wellington Cabot Foundation (2008); and fellowships, including the School of Visual Arts Alumni Award Fellowship (2006); Pforzheimer Foundation Public Service Fellowship (2006); and Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (2002). Nkosi is the recipient of the Philippe Wamba Prize in African Studies (2004), and the Tollman Award for the Visual Arts (2019).

For more details about Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi's practice, visit Stevenson.info.