Portrait

Olivia Botha (b. 1991, Bloemfontein) is a multidisciplinary South African artist working across painting, installation, video, printmaking, poetry, and drawing. Her practice explores personal narrative, identity, and the influence of physical and imagined environments, with a strong focus on language.

She holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from the Michaelis School of Fine Art (2017). Awards include the Cassirer Welz Award (2018) and the Institut Français’ Visas pour la Création (2020), followed by residencies in Johannesburg, France, and a year-long DAAD Artist-in-Berlin fellowship (2021–2022). In 2024 she relocated to Cologne and, from 2025, works from a studio at Atelierhaus – Bonner Kunstverein in Bonn.

Botha has exhibited internationally at institutions such as Palais de Tokyo (Paris), the Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova (Ljubljana), The Africa Center and Google Arts & Culture (New York), Accademia Tadini (Lovere), and the National Gallery of Zimbabwe. In South Africa, her work has featured at KKNK, David Krut Projects, Latitudes Art Fair, RMB Turbine Art Fair, and the Absa Art Gallery.

Her solo exhibitions include A Collection of Dreams (99 Loop Gallery, 2024); Wilting Flowers (Berlin, 2022); Seeing Blue (Montesquieu-Volvestre, 2021); Caught (David Krut Projects, 2021); Things Left Unsaid (SMAC Gallery, 2019); and Insig/Insight – Uitsig/Outsight (National Gallery of Zimbabwe, 2018).

Her poem “When words fail” appeared in Yesterdays and Imagining Realities: An Anthology of South African Poetry (French Institute of South Africa & impepho press, 2021).

Vita

Solo Exhibitions

2025 – Something for Tomorrow, Bode Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2024 – A Collection of Dreams, 99 Loop Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2023 – Selected Wilting Flowers, 99 Loop Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2023 – Wilting Flowers, David Krut Projects New York, New York, USA (online)
2022 – Wilting Flowers, Berlin, Germany
2021 – Seeing Blue, SCAC Marestaing, Montesquieu-Volvestre, France
2021 – Caught, David Krut Projects, Johannesburg, South Africa
2019 – Things left unsaid, SMAC Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2018 – Insig: Insight / Uitsig: Outsight, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024 – Common Ground, HEAT Art Festival, 99 Loop Gallery, Cape Town South Africa
2024 – Investec Cape Town Art Fair, 99 Loop Gallery Booth, Cape Town, South Africa
2023 – Bubble, exhibition & auction, Woordfees, Stellenbosch, South Africa
2023 – I Never Promised You A Rose Garden, Cavalli Estate, Cape Wine lands, South Africa
2023 – Elemental, 99 Loop Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2022 – SEED II Auction, Villa Arcadia, Johannesburg, South Africa
2022 – Detour, A Journey Through Creative Catalysts, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
2022 – Sempiternal Summer, Lizamore & Associates, Johannesburg, South Africa
2022 – Alone of Its Kind, David Krut Projects, Johannesburg, South Africa
2021 – Amplifica: A Medley of Moods in Miniature, Klein Karoo National Arts Festival, Oudtshoorn, South Africa
2021 – A Short Philosophy on Medium, AVA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2021 – Bag Factory 30 Years: So Far, The Future, FADA Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2020 – Another Kind of Blue, Klein Karoo National Arts Festival, Oudtshoorn, South Africa
2020 – RMB Turbine Art Fair, Bag Factory Booth, Johannesburg, South Africa
2020 – Latitudes Art Fair, Bag Factory Booth, Johannesburg, South Africa
2020 – Viral Self-Portraits, Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova, Ljubljana. Slovenia
2020 – Covert Bioscope, The Bag Factory Artists’ Studios, Johannesburg, South Africa
2019 – Tête-a-tête, Absa Gallery, South Africa
2019 – The Colour Blue, David Krut Projects, Johannesburg, South Africa
2019 – Know This Place? KZNSA, Durban, South Africa
2019 – Open studios, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
2019 – I had a dream, The Africa Center New York and Google Arts & Culture, USA
2019 – Beyond Short Format, Video Art Awards, Labia Theater, SA and Accademia Tadini, Italy
2018 – AtWork, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
2018 – The E-qualities of Women, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
2016 – Michaelis Graduate Exhibition, Cape Town, South Africa
2016 – The Chemistry Behind Creativity, Sasol New Signatures Competition, Pretoria Art Museum, South Africa
2014 – Where the Wild Things Are, Michaelis Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

Accolades

2021 – 2022 DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Fellow
2020 – Visas For Creation, Institut Français
2018 – Cassirer Welz Award
2018 – Moleskine Foundation Scholarship
2016 – Sasol New Signatures Finalist
2016 – Dean’s Merits List

Residencies and Academic record

2025 – Atelierhaus Bonner Kunstverein
2021-22 – DAAD Artist-in-Berlin Fellowship, Berlin, Germany
2021 – SCAC Marestaing, Montesquieu-Volvestre, France
2018-19 – Bag Factory Artists’ Studios, Johannesburg, South Africa
2018 – National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
2016 – Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art, Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa