MPHO MAZIBUKO
Artist Biography
Keneiloe Mpho Mazibuko, known as Mpho, is a South African contemporary artist born in Soweto in 1998 and raised in Johannesburg South. She studied Fine Arts at the University of Johannesburg, completing an Honours degree in Visual Arts, and is currently based in Cape Town as a full-time artist. At the heart of her multidisciplinary practice is a lifelong fascination with storytelling and the lives that exist beyond the stories we think we know.
Mpho’s relationship with storytelling began during childhood, when she immersed herself in online forums and began creating her own narratives. At the same time, she taught herself to draw, sculpt and paint. Formal art education followed through high school and university, but storytelling remained the thread connecting her different ways of making.
Her work is deeply informed by the communities that shaped her - from Rosettenville and Turffontein to Soweto and the informal settlements where members of her family lived. Mpho seeks out people and stories in homes, neighbourhoods, orphanages and other spaces where she is welcomed. Through conversations with family, friends, neighbours and strangers, she listens before transforming fragments of their experiences into art.
This process has taught Mpho to look beyond the labels society places on people. A person initially perceived as a thief becomes a man carrying the wounds of an abusive childhood; a cleaning lady becomes a mother with a complex history of her own; a child becomes a source of imagination and wisdom. Through listening, assumptions give way to understanding, allowing empathy to become an essential part of her artistic practice.
Works such as The Songs of the Bedwetters and Idlu bring together narratives of humanity, trauma, memory and resilience. Mpho often incorporates recycled materials into her work, layering physical fragments in much the same way that individual experiences accumulate within a life. Her practice becomes a form of visual storytelling through which voices that might otherwise remain at the margins are given space to be encountered and heard.
Influenced by artists including Mary Sibande, Lebohang Kganye and Tahlia Stanton, Mpho describes her work as “honest poetry.” She does not simply want viewers to possess an artwork; she wants them to feel the weight of the stories held within it. Through empathy, attentive listening and imagination, her work invites us to look beyond first impressions and recognise the complexity and humanity within another person’s story.
“I sat, I heard and I gave.”
My work begins with listening. I am interested in the stories that exist around us but are often overlooked - the experiences that do not necessarily reach the mainstream or become part of everyday conversation. I seek them out because I believe there is value in allowing these voices to be heard.
When I work with someone, I try to understand more than what can be seen from the outside. I listen to their thoughts, emotions, desires and aspirations. The more I listen, the more the labels we so easily place on people begin to disappear, revealing lives that are far more complicated, vulnerable and human.
Storytelling allows me to bring these experiences together. Drawing, painting, sculpture and recycled materials become ways of building a visual narrative from fragments — almost like creating a poem from different lives, memories and emotions. I want to treat those stories with reverence and grace.
I am particularly drawn to narratives that live on the periphery of our collective awareness. Through works such as The Songs of the Bedwetters and Idlu, I explore humanity, trauma and the extraordinary things we can discover when we are willing to listen rather than assume.
I think of my work as honest poetry. Ultimately, I want people to experience more than the physical artwork. I want them to feel the weight of the stories it carries and perhaps leave with a deeper sense of empathy for lives and experiences beyond their own.
