Inga Somdyala

About
Inga Somdyala is an interdisciplinary artist born in Komani, Eastern Cape, South Africa, living and working in Cape Town. In 2019, he completed a Master of Fine Art degree at the Michaelis School of Fine Art (University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa) and has since participated in various international art fairs and group exhibitions.
Somdyala’s practice explores personal aspects of the cultural, political and social negotiations of the post-apartheid generation. Working primarily through painting, print media and installation, his work is an evocative and tactile exploration of cultural identity within South African political history as it intersects with his lived experience.
In 2022, Somdyala was awarded the MTN New Contemporaries Award, followed by a residency at the Nirox Foundation in 2023, where he presented a selection of works across two venues installed at the Nirox Residency studio space and the new Villa-Legodi Centre for Sculpture. Selected solo exhibitions include As Far As The Sea (2023) at Reservoir Projects and Adamah (2022) at WHATIFTHEWORLD gallery, Cape Town, South Africa.
He has taken part in a number of group exhibitions locally, including We, the People: 30 years of Democracy in South Africa (2024-2025) at Norval Foundation, Layers: Rock Art Across Space and Time, a travelling exhibition at Nirox Sculpture Park, with a second iteration installed at Brundyn Arts & Culture’s Boschendal Estate exhibition space, followed by the third iteration at the Origins Centre, Wits University (2023). Additional group exhibitions include Chapter One: Vernacular Materiality at PSM, Berlin (2025), signifying the impossible song at Southern Guild, Los Angeles, USA (2024), The Weight of a Stone (2022) at blank projects, Home Strange Home (2022) curated by Reservoir in collaboration with WHATIFTHEWORLD gallery, Verse (2022) at the Association for the Visual Arts (AVA) Gallery, Matereality (2020) at the Iziko South African National Gallery, the head the hand (2019) at blank projects, and AMAQABA Vol. 1 (2018), a collaborative body of work with Xhanti Zwelendaba at Eclectica Contemporary.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023 | As Far As The Sea, Reservoir Projects, Cape Town |
Good Grief, Nirox Foundation Residency and Villa-Legodi Centre for Sculpture, Krugersdorp, Johannesburg | |
2022 | ADAMAH - ADAMAH, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town |
Inga Somdyala | Artist-in-Residence - Krone x WHATIFTHEWORLD, Tulbagh, Cape Town |
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025 | Chapter One: Vernacular Materiality, PSM, Berlin, curated by RESERVOIR, Berlin, Germany |
2024 | We, the People: 30 years of Democracy in South Africa, Norval Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa |
signifying the impossible song, Southern Guild, Los Angeles, USA | |
Things take time, time takes things, Pool Space, Cape Town, South Africa | |
2023 | Fullhouse, blank projects, Cape Town |
Layers: Rock Art Across Space and Time, Nirox Sculpture Park, Krugersdorp, Johannesburg | |
2022 | Home Strange Home - Krone x WHATIFTHEWORLD, Twee Jonge Gezellen, Tulbach |
Subject: Object, University of Johannesburg Gallery, Johannesburg | |
The Weight of a Stone, blank projects, Cape Town | |
Verse, Association for Visual Arts (AVA) Gallery, Cape Town | |
The Phoenix Runway - The Phoenix Runway, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town | |
2021 | Falling Awake, THEFOURTH, Cape Town |
2020 | Matereality, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town |
2019 | the head the hand, blank projects, Cape Town |
2018 | Amaqaba Vol. 1, Eclectica, Cape Town |
2016 | Unpacking, Eclectica Print Gallery, Cape Town |
2015 | Collective Noun, Michaelis Gallery, Cape Town |
Art Fairs
Cape Town Art Fair 2025 |
Art Brussels 2024 |
Cape Town Art Fair 2024 |
The Armory Show 2023 |
Joburg Art Fair 2022 |
Awards
MTN New Contemporaries Award, 2022
Simon Gerson Prize, 2017
Katrine Harries Print Cabinet Award, 2017
Cecil Skotnes Scholarship, 2016
Permanent Collections
Sheryn Art Collection
Katrine Harries Print Cabinet
The Servais Family Collection