FAITH XLVII
(b. 1979 Cape Town, South Africa)

Liberty Du, who is widely recognised as Faith XLVII, is a South African known as one of the world’s most prominent female street artists. Through her work, Faith XLVII attempts to disarm the strategies of global realpolitik, in order to advance the expression of personal truth. In this way, her work is both an internal and spiritual release that speaks to the complexities of the human condition, its deviant histories and existential search. She has been applauded for her ability to resonate with people around the world.

Her journey into art began on the streets of South Africa in 1979, as a young graffiti writer taking on the name Faith47 (the number being a reference to her grandmothers numerological theorem). In 2006, Liberty began on a nomadic journey which has brought her to create works in 39 countries and, in 2017, saw her relocating to Los Angeles, USA.

Her evolution from street artist to a multi-disciplinary artist has created a fluid yet solid bridge into the contemporary art world. This explorative approach has led her to develop a broad range of artwork. This ranges from immersive new media installations and hand-sewn wall tapestries (deconstructing notions of value and place), to sculptural bronze works investigating hierarchies of power, hyper realistic paintings and a variety of fine art prints.

The thread of Liberty’s practice can be traced from abandoned structures, landmark 20-storey buildings to museums and galleries all the way through to intimate site-specific installations. One can observe in Liberty’s approach evidence of her own personal quest, which in turn brings to the forefront much larger concerns of universal social and political complexities. Through the use of these various mediums, Liberty finds a unique series of poetic tones that lend their voice to her expression. We see in her work the longing for a deeper connection to nature, and a resurrection of the divine feminine. There is too the active investigation and questioning of the human condition, its deviant histories and our own inherent existential search of what it means to be human. This all serves to imbue her narratives within it a certain balancing weight the ebb and flow of between pain and contemplation, imploring us to examine our place and contributions in the world.

Today, her artwork can be found in the several private and public collections including the Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation in South Africa. She has shown at the Calais Museum of Fine Art and the Bernard Magrez Foundation in France, and Mana Contemporary and the Brooklyn Museum in the USA. Her murals adorn buildings in cities around the world.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND PROJECTS

2024
Keya Tama & Friends - Where Our Worlds Meet Harman Projects, Los Angeles, CA
With A Little Help From My Friends, Thinkspace Projects, Los Angeles, CA

2023
FAITH XLVII / CLAIR-OBSCUR, Danysz Gallery, Paris

2021
CHANT, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2020
Home, Void Projects, South Africa
Staring Straight to the Future, Everard Read, UK and South Africa
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2019
Context Miami Art Fair, Everard Read, Miami, USA
Art Basel, Miami, USA
Universal Studios Indoor Artwork Commission, Los Angeles, USA
Dictator Art Installation, Columbia
Design Indaba Talk and AURUM Performance, Cape Town, South Africa
The Freedom Piece, The Pailpat Hotel, Los Angeles, USA
20 Year Anniversary Exhibition, Cory Helford Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Together, KP Projects Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Conquête Urbaine, Calais Museum of Fine Art, Paris, France
United Labor Organization 100 Year Mural, New York City, USA
Maya Angelou School Mural Upliftment Project, Los Angeles, USA
Mural Arts Large Mural Production, Philadelphia, USA
Mural commission, Charlottesville, USA
Projection Mapping Mural, BLINK, Cincinnati, USA

2018
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Everard Read CIRCA Gallery Cape Town, South Africa
Short Film Festival CortoLovere, Italy
Mana Contemporary group exhibition
Moniker Art Fair, New York, USA
Grand Opening, Mirus Gallery, Denver, USA
Beyond The Streets, Los Angeles, USA
Mural Project, Vancouver, Canada
Mural Project, North Carolina, USA
Artmosphere, Russia
One Way Through, group exhibition, Heron Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Elixir, solo exhibition, Miami, USA
Moniker Art Fair, London, UK
Destination 131, Paris, France
Summit LA18, Los Angeles, USA
Conquête Urbaine, Paris, France
Women in Street Art, Paris, France

2017
Urban Nation Museum, group exhibition and public art intervention, Berlin, Germany
Arts Council Public art intervention, New Orleans, USA
Homeless, curated by Axel Void, Miami, USA
The Urban Art Biennale, UNESCO Voelklinger Huette World heritage site, Germany
Magic Cities, Munich, Germany
Digard Auction, Tribute to Paris, Paris, France
Urban Currents, group show, Gallerie Kirk, Denmark
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2016
XX: A moment in time, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
Cities of Hope Mural Project, Manchester, UK
Inter|urban Mural Project, Cleveland USA
Freedom as Form, group exhibition, Wunderkammern Gallery, Milan, Italy
PM10, Urban Nation Museum, Berlin, Germany
Agitprop, Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
Wynwood Walls, Art Basel, Miami, USA

2015
Aqua Regalia, solo exhibition, Jonathan Levine Gallery, New York, USA
Pow Wow Taiwan, Taipei, Taiwan
Landfill Meditation, Street Intervention, Johannesburg, South Africa
Art Liberté group exhibition, Du Mur de Berlin, Gare de l’Est, Paris, France
Dragon Tiger Mountain, Mural Project, Nanchang, China
Ono’u, Mural Project, Tahiti Festival Mural, Montreal, Canada The Psychic Power of Animals, Street Intervention, New York, USA
Murals for Oceans Expedition Mural Project, Cozumel, Mexico

2014
Aqua Regalia, solo exhibition, London, UK
Berlin Wall 25th Anniversary, group exhibition, Paris, France
Library Street Collective group exhibition, Basel, Miami, USA
Redux, group exhibition, Inoperable Gallery, Vienna, Austria
Artscape Mural Project, Malmo, Sweden
5 Sector Mural Project, Glasgow, Scotland
Djerbahood, Djerba, Tunisia
Forest for the Trees Mural Project, Portland, USA
Rencontres Australes de Imaitsoanala, Antananarivo, Madagascar
Outdoor Urban Art Festival, Rome, Italy
The Art of Collaboration Wynwood Walls, Basel, Miami, USA
Artesano Mural Project, Rio San Juan, Dominican Republic

2013
Women on the Walls, group exhibition, Jeffrey Deitch and Wynwood Walls Miami, USA
Wooster Collective 10 Year Anniversary Show, Jonathan Levine Gallery, New York, USA
XII Into the Dark, group exhibition, Unit44, The Victoria Tunnel, Newcastle, UK
Brotkunsthalle, group exhibition, Vienna, Austria
Beyond Eden, group exhibition, Thinkspace Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Anniversary, group exhibition, White Walls Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Memorie Urbane Mural Project, Gaeta, Italy
Sculptura Viva International Symposium, San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy
Nuart Mural Project, Stavanger, Norway
MAUS Mural Project, Malaga, Spain
Avant-Garde Urbano Mural Project, Tudela de Navarra, Spain
Los Muros Hablan Mural Project, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Pow Wow Mural Project, Hawaii

2012
Fragments of a Burnt History, solo exhibition, David Krut Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Antenna Garden Dal & Faith47, Rtist Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
International Women, group exhibition, Warrington Museum, London, UK
Mural Project, Tel Aviv, Israel
Aarhus International Mural Project, Aarhus, Denmark
Group exhibition, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Sweden
Mural Project, Sion, Switzerland
Mural Project, Melun, France
Wall Therapy Mural Project, Rochester, New York, USA
Wynwood Walls, Miami, USA

2011
Urban Painting, group exhibition, Milan, Italy
Group exhibition, Wuppertal Museum, Germany
Group exhibition, Warrington Museum, London, UK
Gossip Well Told, group exhibition, Blackall Studio, London, UK
Les murs itinerrance, group exhibition, Paris, France
Urban Mural Project, Greece
City Leaks Mural Project, Cologne, Germany
Inner Walls Mural Project, Milan, Italy
Batelier Mural Project, Slovakia

2010
Moniker Art Fair, London, UK
Design For Humanity, group exhibition, Thinkspace, Los Angeles, USA
For Those Who Live In It, group exhibition, Mu Gallery, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Le Salon Du Cercle De La Culture, group exhibition, Circle Culture Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Stroke03 Art Fair, Berlin, Germany
Escape Art Fair, Vienna, Austria
Biennial, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Focus10 Art Fair, Switzerland
Urbanus International, Mural Project, China
Muao Mural Project, A Coruna, Spain

2009
The Generations, group exhibition, The Showroom Gallery, New York, USA
Epitaph, solo exhibition, Mrego, Brussels, Belgium
Four, group exhibition, 34 Long Fine Art, Cape Town, South Africa
Artotale International, Mural Project, Luneburg, Germany

2008
The Restless Debt Of Third World Beauty, solo exhibition, Atm Gallery, Berlin, Germany
1st Internationale Graffiti Biennale, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Anything Could Happen, group exhibition, Carmichael Gallery, Los Angeles, USA

2007
Be Girl Be, Mural Project, Intermedia Arts, Minneapolis, USA
Pick of the Harvest, group exhibition, Thinkspace Gallery, Los Angeles, USA

2006
Lines of Attitude, group exhibition and Mural Project, South Africa And Kenya

2005
Subglob, group exhibition, Orebro, Sweden
Go Gallery, group exhibition, Amsterdam, Netherlands