Tsoku Maela
Inspired by the realm of dreams as an archive, Maela’s work and practice primarily concerns itself with human behavior and well-being within socio-economic and psychospiritual frameworks, particularly in African contexts.
Tsoku Maela was born in the Limpopo province, South Africa, and works between Johannesburg and Cape Town. He completed his undergraduate at The South African School of Motion Picture Medium, Cape Town, in 2014. He worked as a copywriter and scriptwriter for both corporate advertising and live television shortly thereafter, but it was in his experimental photography as a hobbyist where he found clarity in issues of the mind, body, and spirit through modes of storytelling and dreams as an archive of past and future realities.
Growing up in a country scarred by colonial histories and living as part of a generation navigating the self through a young democracy, Maela's approach utilizes these memories and histories to construct new African, global perspectives and futures. In short: Using story to empower and heal instead of reliving historical traumas with no end in sight.
Maela was awarded the Standard Bank Rising Star Award in 2016 for Media & Marketing, and has exhibited in Lagos, Zürich, Miami at Art Basel and a selection of student-organized exhibitions such as Ljubljana University Medical Centre in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Private collections of his works include the contemporary art collection M&C SAATCHI, Amawal collection, and the JP Morgan Abadali art collection, among others.
Country • South Africa
Medium • Photography
FIRST EXHIBITION WITH CHRISTOPHER MOLLER GALLERY • 2018
Explore his Work
Previous exhibitions by Tsoku Maela
2021
ART MARKET BUDAPEST ONLINE FAIR, Christopher Moller Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa (October) – Group exhibition.
AFRICAN ARTY AT TURBINE ART FAIR | HYBRID ART FAIR, Ilovo, Johannesburg (September) – Group exhibition.
AFRICAN ARTY AT PHOTO LONDON | DIGITAL BOOTH, LONDON, United Kingdom (September) – Group exhibition.
ONLINE EXCLUSIVE EXHIBITION – CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN PHOTOGRAPHY, African Arty (July) – Group exhibition.
MOVEMENT: ART FOR SOCIAL CHANGE, United States of America (May) – Group exhibition.
AFRICAN ARTY AT LONDON ART FAIR: EDIT (January) – Group exhibition.
2020
HEART & MIND, Silvermine Arts center, New Canaan, Connecticut.
JE SAIS POURQUOI CHANTE L'OISEAU EN CAGE, Montreal, Quebec.
PHOTO LONDON FAIR (Digital).
AKAA (Also Known as Africa) Art and Design Fair, Paris.
2019
IN SILVA, KKNK Festival, Oudtshoorn, South Africa.
2018
ICT CAPE TOWN ART FAIR, group show with Neo Matloga, Ablade Glover (including Andrew Solgado Solo).
NO MORE CLICHÉS, PLEASE, solo. Lizamore & Associates gallery.
IN SILVA GROUP EXHIBITION (including: Gina Waldman, Diane Victor, Anastasia Pather), Kalashnikov gallery, Johannesburg.
APPROPRIATE, PULSE ART FAIR, Art Basel, Miami - Christopher Moller Gallery.
2017
PHOTO17, solo, Directors selection (Broken Things), Zurich.
TURBINE ART FAIR, Lizamore and Associate Gallery.
35 YEARS: TRAILBLAZERS GROUP EXHIBITION, Lizamore & Associates gallery.
FNB JOBURG ART FAIR, group exhibition with Ablade Glover & Tony Gum, Christopher Moller Gallery.
2016
BARONGWA: I am that I am: Solo Exhibition, 99 Loop Gallery.
RITUALS, Lagos Photo Festival, Nigeria (Broken Things).
2015
MASS IS ART GROUP EXHIBITION: Pan African Market, Cape Town.
CAPE GRID INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY BENNIAL: Castle of Good hope, Cape Town.
BROKEN THINGS: A story of self-love: Solo Exhibition, 99 Loop Gallery.
2014
BOOM! Baby group exhibition: Young Blood beautiful life Gallery, Cape Town.
MONTH OF PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP EXHIBITION AND TALK: Mogalakwena Gallery.