Artist’s Biography
Born 1991 in Bloemfontein, South Africa and raised in Cape Town, Olivia Botha graduated from Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town early 2017 with Dean’s Merits List. Botha is a multi-disciplinary visual artist working predominately in sculptural installation, video performance and sound. She aims to keep her practice open to allow for change, growth and experimentation. Conceptually, her work revolves around a range of topics that affect or influence her at a specific time and place. Some of her reoccurring themes inquire into, reflect and attempt to deconstruct notions of identity, place, belonging and what it means to be human.
8th winner of the prestigious Cassirer Welz Award, Botha has recently completed her 10-week residency at the Bag Factory which has accumulated to a new body of work and the artist’s first solo show at SMAC Gallery in Rosebank, Johannesburg. In 2018, Botha completed a residency program at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo and exhibited her first residency solo show. Botha was the only South African represented at The E-qualities of Women exhibition at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare later in the same year. The artist was a recipient of the Moleskine Foundation Scholarship granting her the opportunity to participate in the AtWork workshop conducted by Simon Njami and Andrew Tshabangu at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare in December 2018.