Biography

WonderBuhle, born 1989 in South Africa, is a Durban-based visual artist from Kwa-Ngcolosi, a village that is still ruled by a chief. He started making art as a hobby at the age of nine. He says that his mother encouraged him to explore art as a career as he used to play with charcoal from the fire and draw stick figures on the walls of the house as a child.

WonderBuhle received his first formal training through the BAT Centre Artists in Residency (AIR) Program and went on to study fine art through the Velobala apprenticeship program at Durban University of Technology, under the mentorship of Themba Shibase.

The artist states: “I understand my artistic practice as a space between my inner soul, my dreams and my identity. I communicate my views from where I am standing as a black youth in South African society and the world at large. South Africa is in a moment of self-realization; reflecting and embracing its cultural diversities, whilst rewriting its stories through the lenses of young people who are curious, like myself.”

WonderBuhle had his first solo exhibition at the Durban Art Gallery in 2018 and has been included in numerous group shows at Unit, (London, 2020); The Art House (Wakefield, 2018); Michaelis Gallery (Cape Town, 2017); KZNSA (Durban, 2015) and the African Art Centre (Durban, 2014). In 2016, he was the recipient of Bremer Kunststipendium Art Grant (three-month residency) and in 2020; he took part in the La Brea Studio Artists Residency in L.A.

CV

Education

  • 2011-2013 Durban University of Technology, Velobala Apprenticeship Program, South Africa Class of Themba Shibase
  • 2010 BAT Centre, Visual Arts Residency Program, Durban, South Africa

 

 

Awards / Scholarships

  • 2020 ‘The La Brea Studio Artists Residency, Los Angeles, USA
  • 2018 ‘Artists in Residence’, The Art House, Wakefield, UK
  • 2016 ‘Artists in Residence’, Bremer Kunststipendium Art Grant, Bremen, Germany

Solo Exhibitions

  • 2019 To Find Me, GALERIE PHILIPPZOLLINGER, Zurich, Switzerland
  • 2018 Ukumisa insika, Durban Art Gallery, Durban, South Africa

Group Exhibitions

  • 2021 (Re)Pose, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam, NL
  • 2019 The head the hand, Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Africa
  • 2018 The Art House, Wakefield, UK
  • 2017 Looking After Freedom, Michaelis Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
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  • 2016 Bremer Kunststipendium Art Grant, Bremen, Germany
  • 2015 Blowing in the wind, KZNSA, Durban, South Africa
  • 2014 African Art Centre, Durban, South Africa
    AWE, KZNSA, Durban, South Africa
    Young Blood Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
  • 2013 Misconception, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa
  • 2012 Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa
    Art Space Gallery, Durban, South Africa
    Städtische Galerie Bremen, Bremen, Germany
  • 2011 Don’t Panic, Durban Art Gallery, Durban, South Africa
    Izikhwephazethu, Durban Art Gallery, Durban, South Africa

 

 

Public Art Projects

  • 2014 Mural at Colgate and Palmolive, Durban, South Africa
  • 2012 Mural in Lindelani school, Durban, South Africa
  • 2011 Mural of Inqolo Noseyili, Durban, South Africa