Mary Sibande (b. 1982) is a contemporary South African artist working across a variety of mediums, from sculpture to photography and printmaking. Her work primarily explores how to reclaim the black female body in post-colonial and post-apartheid South Africa. Her work often portrays the artist’s alter-ego “Sophie”, a dreamer exploring worlds previously denied to her. Sophie is based upon Sibande herself, as well as the women in Sibande’s family, however, she is also a symbolic figure addressing many topics that remain relevant today, including blackness, femininity, labour and post-coloniality.
Sibande’s works are included in major collections internationally, including the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC; Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, Virginia; Norton Museum of Art, Palm Beach; UMMA (University of Michigan Museum of Art), Ann Arbor; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; Zeitz MOCCA, Cape Town; Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne; Iziko South African Museums, Cape Town, and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
