Mpumi Mayisa

Mpumi Mayisa is a cultural worker, curator and art writer based in Johannesburg. Her practice is rooted in the use of curatorial curiosities to uncover the archive, decode its articulations of personal and collective memory as well as explore the alternative realities that it presents.

She is interested in finding ways to write about art in simplified and inclusive ways, to harness connection and clear transference between artists and the collective. As a cultural worker, her practice involves marrying imagination with world-making.

Mpumi has worked as a junior curator at The NIROX Foundation for the annual Winter sculpture exhibition, in collaboration with the Swedish sculpture park, Wanås Konst/The Wanås Foundation (2018). Curator at Gallery Fanon (2021), Curator at the Bubblegum Gallery for FNB Art Joburg (2021).

She was a features writer for Bubblegum Club (2022) and currently writes for ArtThrob.

Her curatorial projects include Bathini Abafazi? (Gallery Fanon, Johannesburg) and A Crescendo of DayDreams (Bubblegum Gallery for FNB Art Joburg).

Mpumi is also the founder of Among The Lilies, a platform for creatives & innovators that cultivates community and initiates social impact. Since founding Among The Lilies in 2017, she has produced ‘Ode To The Woman’, ‘The Open Mic Experiment’ and ‘Book Socials’ which foster and support artistic practice.