Nene Mahlangu ( (b.1992) is a visual artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
She uses her oeuvre as an affirmative escape and a reminder of the beauty, divinity, and blessing of being a woman. In celebration of 25 years of democracy, Mahlangu made history by being the youngest woman to design two coins for South Africa, championing education and children’s rights.
The figures in Nene Mahlangu’s figurative drawings and paintings are a storytelling medium expressing her urge to create emotionally safe environments in her mind and through her work, that serve as a positive escape to remind herself of the beauty, the divine, the blessing that is to be a woman. The figures depict vulnerability, healing, confidence, wholeness, and a transcendent sense of power. Her works in this series are evocative and thought-provoking, reasserting the rhetoric of authority of the female voice in the everyday world.
Mahlangu’s work has featured in group exhibitions such as ECLIPSE in Paris with Undiscovered Canvas (2022), ART X LAGOS with Affinity Art Gallery (2022), ART the Hague Art Fair, Den Haag, Netherlands (2021), WomenInArts, French Residence, Pretoria, South Africa (2021) Venice International Art Fair, Italy (2020).
EXHIBITIONS
2023, Ethereastrata, Kalashnikovv, Johannesburg, SA
2023, Chasing Spirits, Foreign Exchange, Switzerland
2023, The New Medium, Usurpa, Johannesburg, SA
2023, Everyone Is Welcome, Keyes Art Mile, Johannesburg, SA
2023, Her Recollection, Undiscovered Canvas, Nice, France
2023, Not black or white, Soshiro Gallery, London,UK
2022, Eclipse, Artiste Galerie, Paris, France
2022, HiIbiza, Ibiza, Spain
2022, Commonwealth Games, Birmingham, UK
2022, I Am and Nothing Else, Affinity Art Gallery, Nigeria
2021, ART The Hague Art Fair, Den Haag, Netherlands
2021, Barcelona Contemporary Art Fair, Barcelona, Spain
2021, WomenInArts, French Residence, Pretoria, South Africa
2021, Identify With Me, Latitudes Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa
2021, Undertow group exhibition, OpenArtExchange, Netherands
2020, Venice International Art Fair, Italy
2020, Ambiguous group exhibition, MMArtHouse, Johannesburg
2020,The Politics of the Now Auction: BNAP & Aspire Art Auctions
2019, Latitudes Art Fair, Johannesburg
2019, Voices and Choices, Constitution Hill, Johannesburg
2019, First Rand group exhibition, MMArt House, Johannesburg
2019, Top 10 Young Gautengs Exhibition 100%Design South Africa, Johannesburg
2019, MID group exhibition, AGOG Gallery, Johannesburg
2019, Bibliotheca, Bag Factory Artist Studios, Johannesburg
2018, Continuing Conversations, University of Johannesburg Art Gallery
2018, Winter Group Exhibition, Julie Miller Art Gallery, Johannesburg
2018, TalkingTo Deaf Ears, ABSA Gallery, Johannesburg
2018, Creative Portraits group exhibition, 100% Design South Africa
2018, Group Exhibition, Design Indaba Emerging Creatives, Cape Town