Philiswa Lila is currently in her second year of writing towards a MA degree in art history as part of the NRF/DST SARChI Chair Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa, Arts of Africa and Global Souths research programme, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa. She is an artist, writer and curator interested in history and criticism within the visual arts. Her research focuses on writings of visual art performances that make use of ritual, traditional and cultural practices of Africa while tackling issues of identity and self-identification, gender, sexuality, race, spirituality, etc. In her research she questions the role of the writer as an interpreter and creator of art discourse, particularly in relation to ‘Africa’ and ‘African art’.

Lila holds a BTech degree in Fine and Applied Arts from the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), majoring in art theory and painting (distinction), and an Honours Degree in Curatorship from the University of Cape Town. As an artist, she has shown her work in different art exhibitions, which include the Joburg Art Fair, Dialogue with the Masters (2014); Young ’14 at Bag Factory Artists’ Studios (2014); Beyond the Academy at Fried Contemporary (2015); and The Spaces Between Maps (2016) at ABSA KNKK Festival. Lila has participated in residency programmes and visual art workshops at The Bag Factory Artists’ Studios and Greatmore Studios based in South Africa. She has worked as an assistant lecturer at Tshwane University of Technology; Educational Assistant at Pretoria Art Museum; and facilitating workshops, working with different outreach organisations and as a guide and project administrator at Dikaletsa Creative Projects. She has worked as an assistant curator at the IZIKO South African National Gallery for the exhibition of painter Moses Tladi that travelled to the 2016 National Arts Festival, and recently co-curated at the NIROX Winter Sculpture Fair 2017 under the appointment of TUT, which brought together curators from six South African universities in conversation through sculpture and performance.

Last Modified: Wed, 13 Feb 2019 10:32:15 SAST