Katlego TLABELA
(Pretoria, South Africa, 1993)




Katlego Tlabela (b. 1993, Pretoria, South Africa) is an artist who completed his 4th year of a BA in Fine Arts at the University of Cape Town's Michaelis School of Fine art primarily majoring in printmaking. He is based in Pretoria.
Regardless of his choice of major, Tlabela has always found himself predominantly concerned in the multi-disciplinary technical and creative processes of painting, sound, photography and sculptural installations – within each discipline; he finds ways to incorporate elements of print. Tlabela’s artistic interests have spanned from social and political crises in Post-Apartheid South Africa, the independent African continent as well as the United States of America. Resistance, protest, dialogues around race and positive methods of representation of the Black Body and Experience are visualized through text-based and visual works often revisiting history and relating it back to contemporary events.
The political and personal merges through Tlabela’s work, with pride and defiance. Since 2020, Tlabela’s practice has solely focused on painting and depicting fictional yet attainable scenes of the Black Elite, often also paying tribute to historically prominent Black artists within his works.
Throughout his career, Tlabela has achieved success and recognition locally and internationally through exhibitions, fairs, auctions and public and private collections.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023
C.R.E.A.M, The Breeder, Athens, Greece
Pitori to Paris, Galerie Cecile Fakhoury, Paris, France
Legacy, Legacy, Legacy! , Sakhile&Me, Frankfurt, Germany
2017
NEGRO SUNSHINE, North West University Botanical Garden Gallery, Potchefstroom, South Africa 2023: Tswelopele, Southern Guild Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
GROUPS EXHIBITIONS
2024
Where Thou Art - That - is Home, Osart Gallery, Milan, Italy
2022
ZUT!, The Breeder Gallery, Paris, France
When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, South Africa
2021
Ndoimadzi, Botho Project Space, Johannesburg, South Africa
2020
Habit At, BKhz (Online)
Medium is the Message, Unit London, London, England
Liminality in Infinite Space, African Artists Foundation, Lagos, Nigeria
Black Voices: Friend of my Mind, New York, USA and Online
2019
Winter Salon, Bag Factory Artists’ Studios, Johannesburg, South Africa
Mixed Messages, Bkhz, Johannesburg, South Africa
Keep Languages Alive, D54, Johannesburg, South Africa
2018
In To View, Ebony Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
PROOF, SMAC Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa
2017
Disclosure, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
From The Horse’s Mouth, Ebony Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2016
Meditative Moments at Mullers Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Nothing Personal, SMAC Gallery,Cape Town, South Africa
Unpacking, Eclectica Contemporary Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Creative Destructions, Eclectica Contemporary Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 2017: 100 Years: University of Fort Hare Print Exchange, Steve Biko Center and De Beers Art Gallery, Eastern Cape, South Africa
2015
Revisiting the Latent Archive in Sites, Greatmore Studios Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Street Level, World Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa.
Revisiting the Latent Archive in Sites, AVA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2013
Sasol New Signatures Top 93 Finalist exhibition, Pretoria Art Museum, South Africa 2015: Return to Sender, Center of African Studies Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa