BARBARA WILDENBOER

(b. 1973 Pretoria, South Africa)

Barbara Wildenboer is a South African artist who uses a combination of analog and digital processes to create work that mostly consists of collage, photo- and paper-construction, installation, digitally animated collage works, and book arts. 

Her trademark ‘altered books’ function as narrative clues, intertexts or ‘subtitles’ accompanying the other works, referring to subject matter ranging from ancient history, archaeology and fractal geometry to psychoanalysis. The altered book series Library of the Infinitesimally Small and Unimaginable Large (2011-present) was inspired by a short story by the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges titled The Library of Babel. In this large-scale ongoing project she uses the library as a metaphor for the universe.

Wildenboer lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa, and is represented by galleries in Cape Town, Johannesburg, London, Lisbon and Luanda. In 2007 she obtained a Masters in Fine Art (cum laude) from the Michaelis School of Art at the University of Cape Town. The title of her Master’s thesis was’ Present Absence / Absent Presence’, and the research was concerned with aspects of melancholy, loss and longing as is embodied by the photographic medium. Before that she completed a BA(Ed) with majors in English literature, Psychology and Pedagogics at the University of Pretoria in 1996, followed by a Bachelor of Visual Arts from UNISA in 2003. From 2009-2016 she was working as the head of the Photography Department at the CityVarsity College of Creative Arts, where she lectured Theory & Discourse and History of Photography.

In 2011 she was nominated and subsequently selected as one of the top 20 finalists for the Sovereign African Arts Award for which she received the Public Choice Prize. She has been awarded several international residencies such as the Darat al Funun exchange residency / Unesco-Aschberg (Amman, Jordan 2006), the Al Mahatta residency (Birzeit, Palestine 2009) and the Red De Residencias Artisticas Local (Bogotá, Colombia 2011), the Rimbun Dahan artist residency (Penang, Malaysia 2013), L'Atelier Sur Seine (Fontainebleau, France 2017), Hannacc (Barcelona, Spain 2018) and Le Jardin Rouge at the Montresso Foundation (Marrakech, Morocco 2022).

EDUCATION

2007 Master of Fine Art (with distinction), Michaelis School of Fine Art, South Africa

2003 Bachelor of Visual Arts, UNISA, South Africa

1996 BA (Ed) with majors in English literature, Psychology and Pedagogics, University of Pretoria

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023 BABEL, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2022 LOOT, THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE, Lisbon, Portugal

2020 A Retrospective, KKNK (Klein Karoo National Arts Festival) Festival Artist, South Africa

SUPER/NATURAL, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

Library of the Infinitesimally Small and Unimaginably Large II, XVA Gallery, Dubai, UAE

2019 Folly, Everard Read, London, UK

2018 Eros / Thanatos, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

2017 The Invisible Gardener, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2016 Mythematics, MContemporary, Sydney, Australia

2015 Something Rather Than Nothing, The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong

2014 The Lotus Eaters, Reservoir Gallery, Oliewenhuis Museum, Bloemfontein; William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley; North West University Gallery, Potchefstroom, South Africa

2013 Disjecta Membra, Amelia Johnson Contemporary, Hong Kong

2012 Canaries in the Coalmine, Erdmann Contemporary, Cape Town and Aardklop, Potchefstroom, South Africa

2011 Library of the Infinitesimally Small and Unimaginably Large, Erdmann Contemporary, Cape Town, South Africa

2008 Present Absence/Absent Presence, Erdmann Contemporary, Cape Town, South Africa

Vanitas, AVA, Cape Town, South Africa

2006 Everyday Alchemy, Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023 
What I Feel When I Think About The Cosmos, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa
Moving Art, XVA Gallery, Dubai, UAE
Collide, Featherstone Centre for the Arts, Massachusetts, USA
Chimère, Fondation Blachere, Bonnieux, France
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE, Cape Town, South Africa

2022 
EX LIBRIS, group show, Everard Read at Leeu Estates, Franschhoek, South Africa
FNB Art Joburg, with Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
Spring, group show, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa
Things I’d like to remember, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
AKAA Fair, with THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE, Paris, France
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
(Im)materiality, THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE, Lisbon and Centro de Artes Agueda, Portugal

2021
Spring Show, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
In Conversation, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
World Filled, Golubitskoe Foundation, Taman Peninsula, Russia
Paper Art 2021, CODA, Apeldoorn, Netherlands
Transitory Terrain, Everard Read, London, UK
The Art of the Book, Seager Gray Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Oasis, 25th anniversary exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
AKAA Fair, with THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE, Paris France

2020 
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Homework, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Either the world is crowded with garbage or our memories, Golubitskoe Art Foundation, Golubitskaya, Russia
The Art of the Book, Seager Gray Gallery, San Francisco, USA
artMRKT International Art Fair, with Seager Gray Gallery, San Francisco, USA

2019 
Winter, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Seattle Art Fair, with Seager Gray Gallery, Seattle, USA
14th Annual Art of the Book, Seager Gray Gallery, California, USA

2018 
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2017 
Booknesses: South African Artists’ Books, FADA Gallery, part of the BOOKNESSESS COLLOQUIUM, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
By the Book, Kaller Fine Arts, Washington DC, USA
Reality Check, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Art Africa Fair, Cape Town, South Africa

2016 
This is Not a Book, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, California, USA
Surface and Subtext, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
nano, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Barnard Gallery, South Africa
The Art of the Book, Seager Gray Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Lush, SMAC Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Twelve Days, The Cat Street Gallery, Sheung Wan
artMRKT International Art Fair, with Seager Gray Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Turbine Art Fair, with Dead Bunny Society, Johannesburg, South Africa

2015
Map of the New Art, Imago Mundi, Luciano Benetton Collection, Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, Italy and New York, USA
Ten Years of Artists Books, Brooklyn Public Library, New York, USA
Picture & Paper, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
The Spiritual in the Material, Lizamore and Associates Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
The Art of the Book, Seager Gray Gallery, San Francisco, USA
The Artist as Author, Klein Karoo National Arts Festival, Oudshoorn, Karoo, South Africa
Empire, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
artMRKT International Art Fair, with Seager Gray Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Art Central Fair, with Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong

2014 
Butterflies in my Stomach, XVA Gallery, Al Fahidi, Dubai, UAE
artMRKT International Art Fair, with Seager Gray Gallery, San Francisco, USA
The Art of the Book, Seager Gray Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Art Taipei, with Cat Street Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
Singapore Art Fair, with Cat Street Gallery, Singapore

2013 
Crossing the Divide, Erdmann Contemporary, Cape Town, South Africa
Wonder Works, The Space, Hong Kong
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa
Joburg Art Fair, with Erdmann Contemporary, Johannesburg, South Africa

2012 
Conversations, Sydney, Australia
Clover Aardklop Arts Festival, Potchefstroom, South Africa
Art International Zurich, with Erdmann Contemporary, Zurich, Switzerland

2011 
Implemented Environments, Brundyn & Gonsalves, Cape Town, South Africa

2010 
Return to the Land, Klein Karoo Kunstefees, Oudtshoorn, South Africa
Es(Cape), Pretoria Kunsvereniging, Pretoria, South Africa
Matters Conceptually/Conceptual Matters, Erdmann Contemporary, Cape Town, South Africa
Reading between the lines, US Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa

2009 
3d Riwaq Biennale, Birzeit, Palestine

2008 
Construct: Beyond the Documentary Photograph (travelling exhibition) Unisa Gallery, Pretoria, KZN Gallery, Durban, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Gallery, Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown Art Festival, Goethe Institute, Johannesburg, South Africa
Print 08: Myth, Memory and the Archive, Bell-Roberts Gallery, South Africa

2007 
Come, Michaelis Gallery, Cape Town, KZNSA, Durban, South Africa
Greenhouse, Bell-Roberts Gallery, Lourensford estate, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Critic and Committee’s Choice, AVA, Cape Town, South Africa

RESIDENCIES/AWARDS

2023 Fondation Blachere, Bonnieux, France

Montresso Art Foundation, Marrakech, Morocco 

2022 Montresso Art Foundation, Marrakech, Morocco 

Top 20, Sustainable Arts Foundation Award, San Francisco, USA

2021 Modern Art Projects, South Africa

Top 20 finalist, Thami Mnyele Fine Art Awards, South Africa

2016 L’Atelier Sur Seine residency, (Fontainebleau, Paris)

2013 Rimbun Dahan residency, Penang, Malaysia

2011 Red De Residencias Artísticas Local at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, (Bogotá, Colombia)

Public Vote Prize, Sovereign African Arts Award 

2009 Al Mahatta residency, Palestine

ABSA l’Atelier, ArtB, Bellville & Johannesburg, South Africa

2008 ABSA l’Atelier, ArtB, Bellville & Johannesburg, South Africa

2005 ABSA l’Atelier, ArtB, Bellville & Johannesburg, South Africa

2006 Unesco-Aschberg residency, Jordan

MacIver Scholarship

2005/6 KW Johnstone Scholarship

2005/6 Jules Kramer Award

2005/6 Harry Crossley Scholarship

2003  BRETT KEBBLE ART AWARD, CTICC, Cape Town, South Africa

2002  Winner, Vuleka New Signatures, South Africa

2000  M-WEB NEW SIGNATURES, South Africa

SITE SPECIFIC INSTALLATION & COLLABORATIONS

2016 Collaboration with 50ty50ty prints, Cape Town, South Africa

2015 DEKOR-Z Collaborative site specific installation with Liza Grobler, South Africa

2013 Chance Favours the Connected Mind Collaborative installation with Liza Grobler, South Africa

2009 Mother Tongue. Site specific installation at the Birzeit Conservatory, Palestine

2008 Public Memorial for Olive Schreiner, Kalk Bay, South Africa

2006 Epitaph, (Collaboration with Sima Zereikat), Cave, Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan

2004 Spier Sculpture Biennale, Spier Wine Estate, Stellenbosch, South Africa