Wezile Harmans

About
Wezile Harmans (b. 1990; Port Elizabeth, South Africa) is an interdisciplinary mixed-media artist who leverages the mediums of performance, video art, installation, and painting to highlight issues pertaining to social justice and inequalities. Deeply rooted in theories attached to defamiliarization, human behaviour, and symbolism, Harmans’ practice is a witness to the act of creation, materialized through Harmans’ observation of unwelcoming spaces, prejudices, and critical self-reflexivity.
A visual activist against social inequalities, Harmans’ contributions to performance in South Africa have been recognised by institutions such as the Iziko South African National Gallery, Norval Foundation, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, and many local art fairs and galleries across the country. Special activations in his international oeuvre include a film by human rights defender Hub Artivism and University of York (CAHR) (UK) and Art Rights Truth, as well as a video performance with LEAD Project and LSE Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa in London.
In 2022, Harmans was awarded the Best Visual Art Award in Creative Collection from the National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences for his work on a project entitled Umdiyadiya. He was also the recipient of the 2019 David Koloane Award and the Prince Claus Fund Building Beyond Award (2022). Since then, his works have been presented at many global artistic hubs, including Hangar and several art residencies across South Africa, Germany, Madagascar, and Sweden. Harmans’ works can also be found in the collections of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, ArtbankSA, and the National Museum of South Africa. Wezile Harmans currently lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa.
PANEL TALKS AND CONFERENCES
- Department of Anthropology and Development Studies at the University of Johannesburg with Gauteng Anthropology in conversation with Dr Gcobani Ǫambela. TOPIC: There is love in this house: Displacement, Memory and Dignity.
- HRD Hub, Centre for Applied Human Rights, University of York. Panel discussion with Emile Flower. TOPIC: The Role of Art in Keeping Civic Space Open.
- Social Justice: A human Rights concept in the performing arts, symposium hosted by Free State University.
- Panelist – Can we violate our own body rights to make art? Hosted by University of KwaZulu Natal Centre for Creative Arts.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024 | Locating Spaces of Urgency. Chapter I: Endlovini. - WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town, South Africa |
Unrooted, Vilsmeier-Linhares collection, Munich, Germany | |
Umdiyadiya: When we remember, Uppsala Art Museum, Sweden | |
2023 | Do not trust the borders, UJ Art Gallery, Johannesburg |
When we travel, WHATIFTHEWORLD Gallery, Cape Town | |
2022 | Do not trust the borders, Bag Factory Artists’ Studios, Johannesburg |
We regret to inform you, National Arts Festival, Makhanda. Performance | |
2021 | Umdiyadiya, National Arts Festival, Makhanda |
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 | Future Worldings, Griffin Art Projects, Vancouver, Canada |
In transit under another sky, Kemene Cultural Center, Nairobi, Kenya and Afropecene StudioLab, Kampala, Uganda | |
2022 | The Phoenix Runway - WHATIFTHEWORLD x KRONE, Curated by Reservoir |
Home Strange Home - Reservoir and WHATIFTHEWORLD, Tulbagh | |
WeAreCultutre, Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg. Curated by Dr Same Mdluli | |
A site for contemplation, AVA Gallery, Cape Town and UJ Gallery, Johannesburg. Curated by Anelisa Mangcu | |
2021 | Umdiyadiya, Spier light Art Festival, Stellenbosch |
We regret to inform you, Infecting the City Festival, Cape Town. Performance | |
Umdiyadiya, Spier light Art Festival, Stellenbosch. Video work | |
2020 | Home as a Parish, Hangar, Portugal. Curated by Azu Nwagbogu |
Wamkelekile, ICA Fellowship, University of Cape Town. Curated by Jay Pather | |
When water breaks, Greatmore Studios, Cape Town. Curated by Gcotyelwa Mashiqa | |
2019 | When they turn Home was no more, Infecting the City, Cape Town. Performance. |
Art(i), FNB Art Joburg, Johannesburg. Performance | |
2018 | In These Streets: Collecting Bodies, ICA Live Art, South African National Gallery. Performance |
In These Streets: Collecting Bodies, My Body My Space Festival, South Africa | |
2017 | In These Streets, PIKO/PIAD Art Project, Vrystaat Kunstefees. Performance. |
Presentations
2023 | When We Travel |
Art Fairs
Cape Town Art Fair 2025 |
Cape Town Art Fair 2024 |
Awards
2025 – Black Rock Senegal residency. Dakar, Senegal.
2024 – IASPIS residency. Stockholm, Sweden
2023 – Prince Claus Fund Building Beyond Award. Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Krone/WhatIfTheworld gallery artist-in-residence. Tulbagh, South Africa.
Frankfurt LAB Residency. Frankfurt, Germany.
2022 – Best Visual Art HSS Award – Umdiyadiya, hosted by the National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences.
PACT Zollverein Artist in Residence Award. Essen, Germany.
2021 – LEAD Visual Art Commission, SOAS University of London.
Virtual Worlding residency exchange, Griffin Art Projects / Bag Factory, Canada/South Africa.
2020 – Bodyland residency, University of Fort Hare Hunterston Centre.
Art + Activism against Repression, University of York’s CAHR
Pro Helvetia ANT Mobility Residency. Harare, Zimbabwe. Artist in residency,
SIRA 2020, Madagascar. Arts & Culture Trust Impact Finalist Award.
2019 – Fruits of Democracy Award in Arts & Culture, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan.
Artist in residency, Greatmore Studios Trust, Cape Town.
David Koloane Award, Bag Factory Artist Studios, Johannesburg.
2018 – Commissioned Award, Performance Season. The PE Opera House, South Africa
2017 – Artist in residency, Openlab, PIAD and University of Free state.
2015 – Artist in residency, The Forgotten Angles Theatre Collaborative, South Africa.
Permanent Collections
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa
Artbank South Africa
Brainlab Culture Program
Cape Grace Hotel
Filmography
When We Travel (2023) Performance
Umdiyadiya Live Performance