ABOUT
Born Umtata, South Africa in 1984 and lives and works in both Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Exploring the border-zones between fashion, performance and contemporary art, Athi-Patra Ruga makes work that exposes and subverts the body in relation to structure, ideology and politics. Bursting with eclectic multicultural references, carnal sensuality and a dislocated undercurrent of humor, his performances, videos, costumes and photographic images create a world where cultural identity is no longer determined by geographical origins, ancestry or biological disposition, but is increasingly becoming a hybrid construct. A Utopian counter-proposal to the sad dogma of the division between mind and body, sensuality and intelligence, pop culture, craft and fine art, his works expresses the eroticism of knowledge and reconciles the dream with experience.
Recent exhibitions include: AFRICA: Architecture, Culture and Identityat the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art; Imaginary Fact at the South African Pavilion, 55th Venice Biennale; African Odysseys at The Brass Artscape in Brussels; Public Intimacy at the SFMOMA, San Francisco; The Film Will Always Be You: South African Artists on Screen at the Tate Modern in London; and Making Africa at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.
Athi-Patra Ruga was also recently included in the Phaidon book ‘Younger Than Jesus’, a directory of over 500 of the world’s best artists under the age of 33. His works form part of Private, Public and Museum Collections here and abroad, namely: Museion – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bolzano Italy; CAAC – Pigozzi Collection; The Wedge Collection, IZIKO South African National Gallery.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2016
Athi-Patra Ruga, Bass Museum of Art, Miami
2015
The Elder of Azania, Grahamstown National Arts Festival, Grahamstown
A Land Without A People… For A People Without A Land, In Situ, Paris
2014
The Future White Women of Azania Saga – WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town
2012
Ilulwane, Solo Presentation at Long Street Baths, Cape Town
2011
Ilulwane Performa 11, New York City, New York
2010
Teeth are the Only Bones that Show, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town
The Body In Question IV: La Momma Morta, YOUNG BLACKMAN, Cape Town
Athi Patra Ruga: The Works, FRED Gallery, London, England
2009
Mister Floating Signifier and the Deadboyz, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town
After He Left, YOUNG BLACKMAN, Cape Town\
2008
..of bugchasers and watusi faghags, Art Extra, Johannesburg
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2016
An Age of Our Own Making, Holbaek, Denmark
2015
AFRICA: Architecture, Culture and Identity, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Louisiana
The Film Will Always Be You: South African Artists on Screen, Tate Modern, London
The Elder of Azania, Solo Performance at the Johannesburg Pavilion, 56th La Biennale di Venezia, Venice
2015
Joburg Art Fair – WHATIFTHEWORLD, Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg
Broken English, Tyburn Gallery, London
Studio: The Lives and Works of South African Artists, IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town
Foreign Bodies – WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town
Queer Threads, Leslie & Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, New York
Lumières d’Afriques, Theatre National De Chaillot, Paris
Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design, Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain
2014
African Odysseys, The Brass Artscape, Brussels
PRÓXIMO FUTURO / NEXT FUTURE, Programa Gulbenkian de Cultura Contemporânea, Lisbon, Portugal
Uncertain Terms – WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town
Public Intimacy, SFMOMA, San Francisco
Brave New World…20 Years of Democracy, IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town
2013
Between the Lines, Braunschweig University of Art, Berlin
Making Way: Contemporary Art from South Africa and China, Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg
Imaginary Fact, 55th La Biennale di Venezia, South African Pavillion, Venice
The Beautyful Ones, Galerie Nolan Judin, Berlin
Sharp Sharp, Johannesburg, Gaite Lyrique, Paris
Films for Peace , Screened Worldwide including South Africa, Paris, London, New York, Sydney
2012
Making Way, in collaboration with Mikhael Subotzky, National Arts Festival, Grahamstown
Neither Man Nor Stone, IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town
A SHOT IN THE ARSE, The Michaelis Gallery, Cape Town
Under a Tinsel Sun, The III Moscow International Biennale For Young Art, Moscow, Russia
2011
Living as Form Exhibition, New York
A Tribute to Photography, Primo Marella Gallery, Milan, Italy
BECOMING: Photographs from the Wedge Collection, Nasher Museum of Art, North Carolina, USA
2010
Africa, Assume Art Position, Primo Marella Gallery, Milan, Italy
X HOMES, Performance Art Series, Johannesburg
For Those Who Live in It – Pop culture Politics and Strong Voices, MU Foundation, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
DADA South?, IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town
From Pierneef to Gugulective, IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town
2009
Pret a Partager (More than the sum of its parts), IFA Gallery, Stuttgart, Germany
Big Wednesday, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town
2008
Retrospective, IFA Gallery, Berlin, Germany
A Life Less Ordinary; Performance and Display in South African Art, Djanogly Art Gallery, Nottingham, UK
Spot on Dak’Art
Beauty and Pleasure in Contemporary South African Art, Stenersen Museet, Oslo, Norway
Infecting the City, Cape Town CBD
2008
The Trickster, Art Extra, Johannesburg
Upstairs/Downstairs, Association of Visual Arts, Cape Town
Peripheral Vision and Collective Body, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bolzano, Italy
Disguise: The Art of Attracting and Deflecting Attention, Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2014 F.W.W.O.A SAGA
2012 The Works 2006-2013
