BIOGRAPHY
(Mbuji-Mayi, 2003)
Hugo Kabeya’s work centers on creating introspective and intimate yet widely relatable conversations, rooted in lived experience as a young immigrant navigating life in South Africa, a country still in its formative stages of democracy. Being self-taught, his practice is grounded in site-specific research that fosters collective reflection and connection, particularly as they explore the socio-political landscapes shaping both individual and collective consciousness.
Working across various media, Hugo specifically examines the intricate ways in which personal and historical narratives intertwine, often revealing the layered complexities of erased histories, migration, environmental struggle, displacement, and social upheaval. Being a research and experimentation-led artist who looks for new ways and means of narration, there is constant discovery in his practice, e.g., using materials that have important cultural and historical links, such as jute/hessian, and reinterpreting them to make living and breathing tapestries that carry the stories long forgotten in time or the ones crushed under the changing “ narrative ” of history.
This spirit of discovery has also led to experimentation with more unconventional materials, such as mercury cinnabar and lace, used in a site-specific project in Idrija, Slovenia. This particular work focused on preserving chronicles at risk of being lost in a rapidly advancing world, reinforcing their ongoing commitment to capturing and re-contextualizing narratives often left at the margins.
His artist practice segments between two themes, from paintings that reach to analyze the natural resources of the Congo (DRC), his home country. And secondly, site-specific and research-based work. From this he’s able to draw ideas and inspiration from both sides and bring forth work that stimulates and strikes discourse in a social and contemporary sense.
CV
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 Unearthing: Mercury & Cobalt, ID20 Institute (Topilnica Hg Museum) , Idrija, Slovenia
2024 Digging for Riches (Cobalt Blue Series), DAC on Dorp, Cape Town, South Africa
2023 When Congo Cried, Exhibit Co, Cape Town, South Africa
Flesh & Spirit, Exhibit Co, Cape Town, South Africa
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 And Yet We Imagine, Climate Lounge x Dear Tomorrow, Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation
2024 Within These Four Walls, CurioCity Africa, Cape Town, South Africa
Wear and Tear, District Six Museum, Cape Town, South Africa
Unmasking Realities, DAC on Dorp, Cape Town, South Africa
L.I.N.K, artHARARE Contemporary, Cape Town, South Africa
2023 Advent of the Emergent, Exhibit Co, Cape Town, South Africa
2022 Silent Auction, Butterfly Art Project, Cape Town, South Africa
Images of Hope (CTAF) - Madlozi Contemporary , Cape Town, South Africa
2021 This Is Art, Sendinggestig Museum, Cape Town, South Africa
Fame Week, Cape Town, South Africa
2019 Gratitude, Casa Labia Cultural Centre, Cape Town, South Africa
2018 Superhero, Young Blood Gallery/Butterfly Art Project, Cape Town, South Africa
2016 BAP Annual Exhibition, Cape Town, South Africa
RESIDENCIES, FELLOWSHIPS AND PROJECTS
2026 Cost of a Charge, Art As A Witness - Cape Town, South Africa
2025 IoDeposito Residency (Peripheral Visions) - Italy/Slovenia (cross border)
Blvck Block Residency (Transwerk Studios) - Johannesburg, South Africa
2024 DAC on Dorp Residency - Cape Town, South Africa
District Six Museum International Print Exchange, - Mexico City/Kampala/Malmo/Cape Town
Cape Town Studio Museum Residency (artHARARE) - Cape Town, South Africa
AWARDS
2016 Lions Club International Peace Poster 1 Place Winner (Tokai)
COLLECTIONS
WORKSHOPS AND OPEN STUDIOS
Blu Cobalto: Art as an educational tool for a new narrative on ‘conflict minerals’ - Mariano del Fruili, Italy
Aperitif With Artist Hugo Kanyingu Kabeya And Open Studio - Idrija, Slovenia