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10 Jul 2026 (2 min) read
"Though formally abstract and geometric, Kavula's materials carry significant cultural weight: shweshwe is deeply embedded in South African colonial history and the artist’s personal memory. She deconstructs and reconstructs this tradition, giving rise to new, transformative meanings.” - curatorial team at Patrick Heide Contemporary Art
Multidisciplinary artist Bonolo Kavula has two works in Woven Dialogues, a group exhibition currently on view at Patrick Heide Contemporary Art in London (until 19 September 2026).
The exhibition stages a series of encounters: between intimate, hand-built objects and site-specific interventions; between natural pigments and industrially coloured found materials; and between raw, undyed earth tones and vibrant neon hues. Featuring four other artists alongside Kavula - Kate Terry, Raphaella Pester, Dillwyn Smith, and Defne Tesal – this group show showcases each of the participating artists’ practices, that despite being geographically and culturally distinct, each share a deep commitment to materiality and the expressive possibilities of textiles and fibre.
In Colour Study (2026), Kavula extends her exploration of abstraction through the careful arrangement of colour, repetition and material. Constructed from her distinctive language of punched Shweshwe fabric, the work transforms a culturally significant textile into a rhythmic composition that foregrounds process, labour and memory. Through subtle shifts in colour and geometric pattern, Kavula invites close looking, revealing how repetition becomes a meditative act and how abstraction can carry both personal and collective histories. The work reflects her ongoing engagement with identity, ancestral memory, and the layered legacies embedded within everyday materials.
In Sculpture Study (2025), Kavula expands her investigation of abstraction into three dimensions. She explores the relationship between structure, surface and form, transforming a familiar textile into a sculptural object that balances delicacy with resilience.
