Thania Petersen
Waa Wolke Huil, 2023
embroidery thread, Swarovski crystals on cotton poplin stitched onto linen
132.08h x 292.10w cm
52h x 115w in
Thania Petersen
Cake, 2023
embroidery thread on cotton poplin stitched onto linen
111.76h x 147.32w cm
44h x 58w in
Thania Petersen
Passion Gaps
Installation View
The Armory Show, New York, 2022
Thania Petersen: KASSARAM
Installation View
Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, 2021
Thania Petersen: KASSARAM
Installation View
Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, 2021
Thania Petersen
KASSARAM, 2020
digital video; 12:10 min.
Ed. of 5 + 3 AP
(video still)
Thania Petersen
SONOP/SONAF, 2021
embroidery thread on cotton fabric
70.4 x 50.7 in
178 x 128 cm
Thania Petersen
KANALA WALK, 2022
embroidery thread, beads, seashells, on cotton fabric on Belgian linen
37 x 56 in
94 x 142 cm
Thania Petersen (b. 1980, Cape Town) is a multi-disciplinary artist who uses photography, performance and installation to address the intricacies and complexities of her identity in contemporary South Africa. Petersen’s reference points sit largely in Islam and in creating awareness about its religious, cultural and traditional practices. She attempts to unpack contemporary trends of Islamophobia through her analysis of the continuing impact of colonialism, European and American imperialism, and the increasing influence of right-wing ideologies. Threads in her work include the history of colonialist imperialism in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, as well as the social and cultural impact of westernised consumer culture. Her work is also informed by her Cape Malay heritage, and the practice of Sufi Islamic religious ceremonies. Petersen studied at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art in London. She has held solo exhibitions at WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town, the AVA, Cape Town and at the Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions both locally and abroad.
ZAMUNDA FOREVER is her first solo exhibition in the States. Recent exhibitions include Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest: 10 Years, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest (2023); 18th Venice Architecture Biennale (2023); Indigo Waves and other Stories, SAAVY Contemporary, Berlin (2023); Indigo Waves and other Stories, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town (2022–2023); Artists’ Film International (traveling), Whitechapel, London, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, Ballroom Marfa, Marfa, and others (2022); Can We Sing Together, Old Friend?, 32 Bis, Tunis (2022, solo); Triennale Kleinplastic Fellbach: The Vibration of Things, Alte Kelter Fellbach, Fellbach (2022); Where Do I Begin, Stevenson, Cape Town (2022); KASSARAM, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town (2021, solo); Indian Ocean Craft Triennial: Curiosity and the Rituals of the Everyday, Fremantle, Australia (2021); Self-Addressed, curated by Kehinde Wiley, Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles (2021); Un.e Air.e de Famille, Musée d’art et d’histoire Paul Eluard, Saint-Denis (2021); Between Land and a Raised Foot, National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, South Africa (2019, solo); Radical Love, Ford Foundation, New York (2019); and IQRA, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town (2019, solo). Her work is collected by the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C.; Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA), Cape Town; IZIKO South African Museum, Cape Town; Pérez Art Museum, Miami; and many others.
The artist—whose work will be presented in a solo exhibition at Nicodim Gallery in Los Angeles in August—is also known for her tapestries, meticulously hand embroidered and adorned with beads and seashells. They portray the rituals of the Cape Malay people through a tongue-in-cheek filter. “Humor is our saving grace and tool for self-love,” says Petersen. There is survival in communities that can laugh at the same things, she adds. “Textile to me is a love language that bypasses time—textile is so ancient and so new.”
The visitor’s first impression on entering the exhibition might be the sweet floral scent of citrus leaves and frankincense. Yet its source is encountered only about halfway through the space, where Thania Petersen’s Rampies Sny, 2022—a meticulous grid of perfumed organza satchels filled with botanical cuttings—spans the walls of a narrow corridor between two larger rooms, stretching from floor to ceiling.x
A major highlight this year at Felix Art Fair was the Nicodim Gallery cabana, where South African artist Thania Petersen made a stunning debut of handwoven tapestries with vibrant, allegorical imagery about histories of migration and colonization.
At the poolside of the Felix Art Fair, Thania Petersen's presentation at Felix made a notable splash. The South African artist’s intricately hand-embroidered tapestry SONOP/SONAF (2021) contains rich, allegorical imagery which represents recurring themes in Petersen’s practice: colonisation, migration and her own Sufi Muslim heritage.
South African artist Thania Petersen can trace her lineage back to Tuan Guru, an Indonesian prince brought to South Africa by the Dutch in the 18th century. Fittingly, her work interrogates colonial histories and explores hybrid identities. Her dazzling embroideries fuse styles derived from history painting and textiles, and provide both visual delight and subversive content through their rich symbolism.
Thania Petersen is a multi-disciplinary artist who uses photography, performance and installation. Based in Cape Town, her practice address the complexities of her identity, redefining the stereotypes associated with her heritage. Her latest work is bringing art to the people for whom it is made by wrapping vinyl images around a taxi.
Artist Thania Petersen has embarked on a project to bring art into minibus taxis. As a pilot for the project, she covered a taxi in artwork that interrogates the construction of ‘Cape Malay’ and ‘Coloured’ identity and proposes a way forward.
Born in Cape Town in 1980, Thania Petersen is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work focus on photographic ‘self-portraits’, installations and multi-sensory based performance art. From an intensely personal perspective as an Indonesian ‘Malay’ woman and mother, Petersen adopts various theatrical personas including a mythological Queen and a botanical Goddess. She reflects on her childhood growing up as a girl in a secular Muslim society.
