His practice engages themes of race, the militarisation of society, and structural inequality, interrogating collective memory and the symbolic weight of the black body as a space of distortion and resilience.
Born in Soweto in 1986, Mohau Modisakeng is a multidisciplinary artist whose work grapples with the legacy of South Africa’s violent past and its ongoing impact on identity, memory, and the black body. Through film, photography, installation, and performance, Modisakeng explores how histories of colonialism and apartheid continue to shape social, political, and cultural roles in post-colonial Africa—especially in post-apartheid South Africa.
Rather than depicting violence directly, his work often evokes its lingering presence. “My work doesn’t start off with an attempt to portray violence,” he notes, “but it becomes mesmerising because although we might recognise history as our past, the body is indifferent to social changes, so it remembers.” His use of material and metaphor underscores the body’s role as both a vessel and a witness of trauma, and as a contested site in the struggle over historical narrative and personal agency.
Modisakeng studied at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, where he earned his undergraduate degree in 2009 and pursued postgraduate studies. His practice engages themes of race, the militarisation of society, and structural inequality, interrogating collective memory and the symbolic weight of the black body as a space of distortion and resilience.
He has received several notable accolades, including being a finalist in the MTN New Contemporaries Award (2010), winning the Sasol New Signatures Award (2011), and being named the Standard Bank Young Artist for Visual Art (2016). He represented South Africa at the Venice Biennale in both 2015 and 2017, and has presented commissioned work at Performa Biennial (2017) and Sharjah Biennial (2019).
Modisakeng’s work has been widely exhibited internationally, including at the Saatchi Gallery (London), VOLTA NY (New York), Dak’Art Biennale (Dakar), and Focus 11 (Basel), among others. In 2013, he collaborated with Samsung to produce a major video project for the FNB Joburg Art Fair. His work is held in prestigious public and private collections, including the Johannesburg Art Gallery, Iziko South African National Gallery (Cape Town), Saatchi Gallery (London), and Zeitz MOCAA.
He currently lives and works between Johannesburg and Cape Town.