bio.
Chrisél Attewell (b. 1994, South Africa) works across painting, lens-based media, and installation. Her practice grows from both love and anger: love for people, for the earth, for what feels alive, and anger at the damage, greed, and violence that cut through it. She lives in that contradiction, wanting to hold onto the world while desiring to escape its overwhelming presence.
Her work begins outside, in the landscapes she moves through. She walks, listens, and gathers. Stones and pigments hold weight and memory. She collects experiences, recording encounters through photography and video. Together they form a living archive of curiosity, a way of staying present to the world.
In the studio, these gathered elements enter a process of alchemy. Materials are treated as collaborators with their own histories. Through mixing, layering, and erasure, her process shifts between surrender and control. The paintings often read as topographic maps, rooted in place yet shaped by imagination and the quiet act of escape that unfolds in making.
Each piece is an act of attentiveness and a defiance against indifference, a way to keep caring, to keep looking, even when it hurts to see.
Attewell holds an MAVA from the University of Johannesburg (2023) and a BFA from the University of Pretoria (2016). Her work has been exhibited at Art Cologne, 1-54 London, Contemporary Istanbul, and the Investec Cape Town Art Fair. In 2024 she participated in the Kommagene Biennale in Türkiye, creating a collaborative land installation titled Hands of Many on Mount Nemrut. Recent solo exhibitions include Rain Shadows (UJ FADA Gallery, 2023), Heat Waves (Berman Contemporary, 2024), and Earth is “a” Story We Inherit (OiR Art Hub, Mongolia, 2025).
statement.
I work towards telling a complete story. As a South African artist shaped by a multifaceted and layered history, I feel a responsibility to look closely, hold contradictions, and stay with the full weight of a place or moment. I move between painting, photography, video, and installation because I feel that no single form can carry the weight if the layered stories and contexts that shape the landscapes I work in. Each material opens a different door, and together they build a world where many ways of seeing can sit together. Looking closely is the method: form, pattern, and colour pull me in, and that attention guides how each piece takes shape.
While I work with an ethic of completeness, I am suspicious of neat conclusions. The aim is not resolution but accountability and care. The work invites openness and curiosity. I leave fluidity, texture, and visible brushwork in place so that decisions stay legible. I let one medium check another. A photograph can anchor a body of work; paint can digest experience and carry feeling; video can hold the time it takes to notice. I choose materials for what they do to attention: clay slows the eye, water pushes chance into a surface, pigment from a site ties the work to that ground. I am always willing to revise these choices. If a move feels too tidy, I undo it until it breathes.
If the work succeeds, it gives a truthful pace to seeing, keeps complexity intact, and lets various materials speak together so a full story can be seen and felt.
cv.
Solo Exhibitions
2025 Earth is “a” Story We Inherit, Ulaanbataar, Mongolia. Curated by Ulziibat Enkhtur.
2024 Heat Waves. Berman Contemporary, Johannesburg. Curated by Els van Mourik
2024 Salt of the Earth. Solo Presentation at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, curated by Sean O’Toole.
2023 The Weather Report Promised Rain. Berman Contemporary, Johannesburg. Curated by Els van Mourik
2023 RAIN SHADOWS. UJ FADA Gallery, Johannesburg.
2020 SOCIOGENESIS: Resilience Under Fire. Berman Contemporary, Johannesburg. Curated by Els van Mourik
2019 Substratum. Lizamore & Associates Gallery, Johannesburg. Curated by Teresa Lizamore
2018 Architectus Konstruksie. Klein Karoo Nationale Kunstefees (KKNK), Oudsthoorn. Curated by Lucia Boer.
2018 Under Construction. Assemblage, Braamfontein, Johannesburg
2025 Shared Stories, curated by Jana Bednárová, State Convention Centre, Shillong, Meghalaya, India
2025 Outside In – Inside Out, curated by Leli Hoch & Christa Swart, Gallery Glen Carlou, Paarl, South Africa
2024 Pretty Brilliant, curated by Els van Mourik, Berman Contemporary, Johannesburg
2024 A Sculptural Symphony, curated by Els van Mourik, Berman Contemporary, Johannesburg
2024 The 2020s: new forms of abstraction – part 2, curated by Els van Mourik, Berman Contemporary, Johannesburg
2023 Young Birds Learn to Sing in Springtime, Artsy viewing room, presented by Berman Contemporary
2023 The 2020s: new forms of abstraction – part 1, curated by Els van Mourik, Berman Contemporary, Johannesburg
2023 Reimagining: New Perspectives, curated by Morgan Kunhardt, Berman Contemporary, Johannesburg
2023 ANNUAL SUMMER SHOW, curated by Els van Mourik, Berman Contemporary, Johannesburg
2022 Making and Interpreting Art in 2022, SARChI Postgraduate Exhibition, curated by Dineke Van der Walt
2022 WORK IN PROGRESS: Chrisél Attewell & Gina vd Ploeg. Berman Contemporary. Curated by Els van Mourik
2022 WORKS ON PAPER, curated by Els van Mourik, Berman Contemporary, Johannesburg
2022 ANNUAL SUMMER SHOW, curated by Els van Mourik, Berman Contemporary, Johannesburg
2021 ARTISTES DE LA TERRE: Chrisél Attewell & Barbara Schroeder. Berman Contemporary. Curated by Els van Mourik
2021 Annual Winter Show: The Liminal Space, Berman Contemporary, curated by Morgan Kunhardt. Johannesburg
2021 Making and Interpreting Art in 2021, SARChI Postgraduate Exhibition, curated by Dineke Van der Walt
2020 Learning to Breathe Differently, Berman Contemporary, Curated by Els van Mourik, Johannesburg
2019 ArtLadies, Berman Contemporary, Curated by Els van Mourik, Johannesburg
2019 Collecting Contemporary, Lizamore Gallery, KKNK, Oudtshoorn
2019 SAFFCA Group Exhibition, Gerhard Sekoto Gallery, Alliance Française, Johannesburg
2018 Unsettled, ABSA Gallery, curated by Thabo Seshoka, Johannesburg
2018 Talking to Deaf Ears, ABSA Gallery, curated by Sarah McGee, Johannesburg
2017 Thami Mnyele Fine Art Awards, Coen Scholtz Recreation Centre, Kempton Park
2017 Young Capital – White Noise, Joburg Fringe, Curated by Mbali Tshabalala, Johannesburg
2017 Sasol New Signatures, Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria
2017 Fresh Produce, Turbine Art Fair, Curated by Rolihlahla Mhlanga, Johannesburg
2017 My XXX, Innibos National Arts Festival, Curated by John-Anthony Boerma, Nelspruit
2016 Sasol New Signatures, Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria
2013 Hidden Urban Histories, Rembrandt Hall, University of Pretoria, Pretoria
Collections
Artist Point – Shillong
Ellerman House Collection – Cape Town
The African Arts Trust Collection – Johannesburg
The ABSA Bank Collection – Johannesburg
The Project Space Collection – Johannesburg
Harrie Siertsema Personal Collection – Richmond (SA)
South African Foundation of Contemporary Arts Collection – Brussels
Art Fairs
2025 Investec Cape Town Art Fair. Berman ContemporaryCape Town International Convention Centre
2024 Investec Cape Town Art Fair. SOLO section, curated by Sean O’Toole. Cape Town International Convention Centre
2023 Art Cologne. Berman Contemporary. Cologne, Germany
2023 Investec Cape Town Art Fair. Berman Contemporary. Cape Town International Convention Centre
2022 Contemporary Istanbul, Berman Contemporary, Istanbul, Turkey
2022 Investec Cape Town Art Fair. Berman Contemporary. Cape Town International Convention Centre
2021 Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Online. Berman Contemporary
2020 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Berman Contemporary and Christie’s, Online, London
2019 Contemporary Istanbul, Berman Contemporary, Istanbul, Turkey
2019 Turbine Art Fair, solo booth: Earth to earth, stone to stone, dust to dust
2018 Investec Cape Town Art Fair, The Project Space, Cape Town
2018 RMB Turbine Art Fair, Young Female Residency Award, The Project Space, Johannesburg
2017 RMB Talent Unlocked, Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg
Awards
2021 Special URC Award. University of Johannesburg, Postgraduate School
2018 ABSA L’atelier, Top 100
2018 Grant received from The African Arts Trust as part of the Assemblage Exhibition Programme
2017 Thami Mnyele Fine Art Awards, top 100, Coen Scholtz Recreation Centre, Kempton Park
2017 Sasol New Signatures, finalist, mentioned in catalogue, Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria
2016 Sasol New Signatures, finalist, mentioned in catalogue, Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria
Publications
2024 2. Kommagene Biennial: Labour Behind Healing, ArtDog Istanbul, 22/10/2024, issue 202424, written by Sine Ergün
2024 To the Sun: 2. Kommagene Biennial, Artful Living, 5 September 2024, written by Meryem Koç
2024 2. Kommagene Biennial: Accelerated results of the effort to heal, Aposto, 8 September 2024, written by Ugur Ugan
2024 Seven Joburg artists to look out for at Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2024, inyourpocket, 19 March 2024
2023 Art Unbound, House and Leisure, Volume 12 (Reframe), Autumn 2023
2023 Ghosts of Stone, # Horst und Edeltraut, Berlin, Germany, 10 November, 2023
2023 An experimental album and exhibition looks at the history and ecology of the Cape. Creative Feel, Jan 2023
2022 Sustainability In Art With Chrisél Attewell, Livingspace Magazine, TFG Media, Yolanda Balwanth, Oct 2022
2022 A Matter of Contemporary Connections, ART TIMES, February 2022
2022 Collector’s Edition Cover – Chrisél Attewell, featured on the Opener and dust jacket of House & Leisure
2022 Works on Paper exhibition at Berman Contemporary allows for viewers to engage with the artists’ process of creating, Edward Tsumele
2021 The 10 artists participating in The Liminal Space exhibition at Berman Contemporary test artistic limits, Edward Tsumele, Aug 2021
2020 Whispers of Inspiration, Bernie Hellberg Jr, Signature, May 2020
2019 Selections, Curated by Contemporary Istanbul, September 2019
2019 RMB Turbines Art Fair’s Potential to Challenge Traditional Arbiters of Taste, Nkgopoleng Moloi, Bubblegum Club, July 2019
2019 The Young Female Residency Award: Entrepreneurship and Arts, Art Africa, July 2019
2019 Art Africa, Countering Artybollocks – an exhibition curated by Bland&Boring, written by Tracy Murinik
2018 South African Art Scene: Artist using printmaking to explore Johannesburg’s architectural history, CGTN Africa
2018 Khuluma Magazine, Jozi’s Lost Pockets, written by Trevor Crighton
2018 Prestige Digital Magazine, Jo’burg’s Rebirth Documented as Art, written by Trevor Crighton
2018 SA Art Times, Sculpture Fair
2016 SA Art Times, University of Pretoria Graduate Exhibition
Residencies
2025 Essence Performance Art Project, OIR Art Hub, Mongolia
2025 Artist Point International Residency, Shillong, Meghalaya, India
2024 Kommagene Biennale, Adiyaman, Türkiye
2024 Tankwa Artscape, AirSA, Tankwa Karoo
2023 Bodhi Khaya, AiRSA, Overstrand
2022 Work in Progress: An In-Situ Residency, Berman Contemporary, Johannesburg
2019 Southern African Foundation for Contemporary Art (SAFFCA), Residency at Entabeni Farm, Knysna
2018 Recipient of the Young Female Residency Award with The Project Space, founded by Benon Lutaaya
2017 Artist Career Development Programme developed by Assemblage
Seminars and Research Papers
2024 Attewell, Chrisél. “Mapping traces in the art of Ibrahim Mahama.” International Journal of Cartography (2024): 1-9.
2022 Notions of Disappearance in African Artists’ Response to Postcolonial Landscapes, Making and Interpreting Art in 2022, SARChI Postgraduate Conference in association with UJ, the National Research Foundation and the Department of Science and Innovation
2022 Artists’ Responses to Traces in the Postcolonial Traumatised Landscape. Spring Seminar 2022: Traumatic Landscapes, School of Arts, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, in Association with CITAR (Research Center for Science and Technology of the Arts) and FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology), Porto, Portugal
2021 Circular economies in the artistic practices of Otobong Nkanga and Ibrahim Mahama, Making and Interpreting Art in 2021, SARChI Postgraduate Conference in association with UJ, the National Research Foundation and the Department of Science and Innovation
2019 A Womxn’s Work: Sculpting and Living. A discussion with Avi Soulful and Chrisél Attewell on the processes, practices, challenges and glories of being a (female) sculptor in South Africa. Turbine Art Fair Talks Programme Sponsored by RMB Private Bank
Education
2023 MA in Visual Arts, Cum Laude, University of Johannesburg
2016 BA(FA) Fine Arts, Cum Laude, University of Pretoria
