As South Africa’s contemporary art scene continues to produce a new generation of compelling female voices, one artist attracting the attention of curators, collectors and cultural institutions is Johannesburg-based sculptor Nwabisa Ntlokwana.
Known for her tactile sculptural works that transform unconventional and discarded materials into powerful meditations on motherhood, inheritance and identity, Ntlokwana’s profile continues to grow following her selection as the recipient of the inaugural DLO Energy Resources Group Artist Prize at RMB Latitudes Art Fair in May. The new acquisition-based award has been established to support African artists and contribute to the growth of the continent’s creative economy.
A Deep and Personal Practice
Born in Durban in 1988, Ntlokwana’s practice is deeply personal. Drawing on her experiences as a mother and the enduring influence of her late mother, a photographer who first introduced her to the arts, she creates sculptural works that function as vessels of remembrance, resilience and transformation.
IMAGE: Nwabisa Ntlokwana
Working primarily with leather, wood and found materials, Ntlokwana explores how women carry memory across generations and continually reinvent themselves through cycles of care, inheritance and renewal. Through layered surfaces and material experimentation, her work investigates the relationship between the body, memory and identity while speaking to broader questions of belonging and cultural continuity.
Ntlokwana’s current body of work, Motherwood, explores the relationship between wood and leather as materials that mirror the life cycles of motherhood, strength, endurance and transformation. Through this ongoing series, she reflects on the layered nature of maternal identity and the ways in which memory, body and material intersect. This year marked an important milestone in her career when she was selected to participate in INDEX 2026: The Contours of Return, a special project presented as part of RMB Latitudes Art Fair in partnership with the National Arts Council of South Africa. It was her participation at the Fair that culminated in her receiving the inaugural DLO Energy Resources Group Artist Prize.
Speaking about the recognition, Ntlokwana says, “This recognition is deeply meaningful to me because it acknowledges work that is rooted in personal history, memory and the experiences of women. My practice is shaped by the legacy of my mother and by my own journey through motherhood. To have these stories resonate with others encourages me to continue expanding my practice and exploring the ways in which material can carry memory, transformation and care.”
With a growing exhibition history, increasing institutional recognition and a distinctive artistic language that resonates with contemporary conversations around identity, care and memory, Nwabisa Ntlokwana is emerging as one of the most promising young sculptors working in South Africa today.
As she continues to develop her practice and pursue her ambition of creating monumental sculptural works, hers is a career worth watching.
