Nicholas Hlobo creates large-scale sculptures and installations from industrial rubber, brightly coloured ribbon, leather, and found objects. His work draws on Xhosa cultural traditions, language, and ritual to explore questions of identity, sexuality, and the body in post-apartheid South Africa. Hlobo's practice has garnered significant international attention — he represented South Africa at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011 — and his Ampersand Fellowship year was an important early chapter in a career that has become one of the most compelling in contemporary African art.
The Ampersand Fellowship
Since 1997, the Ampersand Foundation has sent more than 300 South African visual artists to a funded residency in Tribeca, New York — connecting them with one of the world's most dynamic art ecosystems.