Mary Sibande was born in 1982 in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she lives and works. She graduated with a degree in Fine Art from the University of Johannesburg.
Sibande is an established artist and has exhibited at the South African National Gallery, Cape Town, the International Black Arts Festival, Dakar, and in many other museums and festivals. She has been selected for a residency at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C and has won several awards such as the 2013 Standard Bank Young Artist award.
Her favourite technique is to cast a life-sized body in fiberglass and dress it with costumes of her invention inspired by the uniforms of domestic servants and Victorian ladies in bright, lively colours. Recently, Sibande has started to work in new formats and explore new techniques. Her works often echo her family’s history and the wider history of South Africa.
I am a lady, 2009, digital print on cotton rag paper