Bongiwe or Bongi Dhlomo-Mautloa , (born 1956) is a Zulu South African printmaker, arts administrator and activist. She was born in

Vryheid Vryheid ( zu, IVryheid) is a coal mining and cattle ranching town in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Vryheid is the Afrikaans word for "freedom". History After Boer farmers, who lived in the Vryheid area, had helped King Dinuzulu defeat his ...

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

, and educated at St Chad's School in

Ladysmith Ladysmith may refer to: * Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa * Ladysmith, British Columbia, Canada * Ladysmith, Wisconsin, United States * Ladysmith, New South Wales, Australia * Ladysmith, Virginia, United States * Ladysmith Island, Queenslan ...

and

Inanda Seminary School Inanda Seminary School is one of the oldest schools for girls in South Africa. It was founded in 1869 at Inanda, a settlement just over north of Durban, by Daniel and Lucy Lindley, an American missionary couple. History On 20 November 1834 Dani ...

. She furthered her studies at

Rorke's Drift Art and Craft Centre Rorke's Drift Art and Craft Centre is a center for arts and crafts, including fine art, printmaking, pottery and weaving, located in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It has been described as "the most famous indigenous art centre in South Africa". H ...

studying printmaking and gained a diploma in fine arts. She worked at the African Art Centre in Durban (1980-1983), then at the Grassroots Gallery in the same city, before moving to Johannesburg where she curated exhibitions at the FUBA Gallery and the Goodman Gallery. She was a founder and project co-ordinator of the

Alexandra Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "prot ...

Art Centre in Johannesburg. She was Outreach and Development Project Coordinator of the 1995 Johannesburg Biennale, which was called ''Africus'', and was the administrator of the 1997 event, titled ''Trade Routes: History and Geography''. She has said that the Soweto uprising of 1976, when she was aged 20, politicised her, and her prints have been described as "always political, documenting such historical events as the 1976 Soweto uprising as well as less overtly political activities such as women working". Her work has appeared in ''

Staffrider ''Staffrider'' was a South African literary magazine that was published between 1978 and 1996. History and profile ''Staffrider'' was first published in March 1978. Its founder was Mike Kirkwood. The magazine took its name from slang for people h ...

'' magazine. She is married to visual artist Kagiso Mautloa. In April 2023, Dhlomo-Mautloa was bestowed the National Order of Ikhamanga (Silver) by the South African Government for her contributions to arts.

Exhibitions

2022: When Rain Clouds Gather: Black South African Women Artists, 1940–2000, The Norval Foundation, Cape Town. (Curated by Portia Malatjie and Nontobeko Ntombela) - Group exhibition 2022: Yakhalinkomo. Javett- UP Gallery, University of Pretoria, Tshwane. (Curated by Tumelo Mosaka with Sipho Mndanda as Co-Curator and Phumzile Twala as Research and Education Coordinator) - Group Exhibition 2018: FUBA: Preserving a Legacy, Keyes Art Mile, Johannesburg. 2017: A Labour of love, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg. 2015: A Labour of Love, Weltkulturen Museum, Frankfurt, Germany. 2014: Impressions of Rorke’s Drift – The Jumuna Collection, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town. 2012: A Fragile Archive, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg. 2010: Strengths and Convictions: The Lives and times of South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town; Nobel Peace Centre, Oslo. 2003: Rorke’s Drift: Empowering Prints 1962 – 1982, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town; Durban Art Gallery, Durban. 2003: Time, Memory and Desire, Standard Bank Art Gallery, Johannesburg. 1999: ewindFast Forward.za, Van Reekum Museum of Modern Art, Apeldoorn, Netherlands. 1998: Trans Figurative, Association of Visual Arts Gallery, Cape Town. 1989 – 1990: Art/Images in Southern Africa, Kulturhuset, Stockholm. 1988: The Neglected Tradition, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg. 1986: Images of South Africa (solo exhibition), Gaborone.

Publications

2004: Dhlomo, B and Godby, M “Art and Politics in a Changing South Africa: Bongi Dhlomo in Conversation with Michael Godby."''African Arts'', vol. 37, no. 4.

Exhibitions

Publications

References

Further reading