NICOLA BAILEY
(b.1965 Durban, South Africa)

My work reflects the reciprocal devotion I experience with the animals I share my life with, ideas of empathic relationships between species, as well as envisioning a more-than-human future and the acknowledging of the interconnectivity of all life forms. Currently through exploring dreams in other life forms, I want to invite the questions: where there is dreaming, there too must be a kind of consciousness, an emotional intelligence, and an awareness of self. How do these strange and beautiful oneiric journeys manifest in different life forms? It is evident in the physical body, a paw or nose twitching, but the sensory experience of the oneiric states is beautifully intangible and only knowable by the dreamer.

How artists make sense of these imperceptible spaces adds value to scientific findings, as well as the deeper philosophical debates. Scientists are starting to discover more evidence of dreaming in creatures, and this needs much more attention as it has ramifications beyond my own investigations. There is a shifting perspective on how animals are understood and treated, with the ambitions to embody a more inclusive non-hierarchical multi species future.

Nicola Bailey 2024

A multi-media interdisciplinary artist, Bailey has been part of an art collective founded by artists Rose Shakinovsky and Claire Gavronsky, collectively known as Rosenclaire since 2008, which is based in both Florence Italy and South Africa. 

‘At first blush’, Bailey’s first solo was held in 2014 at The Culture Gallery in Cape Town. In 2020 she presented a solo ‘And the Animal Responded’ for Cubicle Series at Everard Read Cape Town. ‘The tenderness of ghosts’ opened May 2022 at Everard Read, Johannesburg. In November 2023 the solo’ A Gentle Entanglement’ opened at Everard Read, Cape Town.

Selected group exhibitions include ‘Domestic departures’ at the Forge (Cape Town, 2011); ‘In Good Company’ at The Irma Stern Museum (Cape Town, 2013); ‘Art/Out of the Ordinary’ at the Association for Visual Arts (Cape Town, 2016); ‘Conversations with Irma’ at The Irma Stern Museum (Cape Town, 2019). 2022 exhibitions included ‘Seeds of the Fig’, curated by Reservoir (with WHATIFTHEWORLD), on the Krone Estate in Tulbagh, South Africa. In 2024, Bailey took part in a group show ‘Sublime Spirits’ at Marianne Boesky in New York, USA, and was presented on the Everard Read Gallery main booth at the FNB Joburg Art Fair. Her 2nd solo Everard Read Johannesburg was in May 2026. August 2026 saw her inclusion in Materiality 2, a group exhibition at IZIKO, South African National Gallery.

Nicola continues to live and work in Cape Town, South Africa.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2027    
UPCOMING, Everard Read, Franchhoek, SA

2026
Between Dog and Wolf, Everard Read, Johannesburg, SA

2024 
Canis Familiaris, Michaelis Art School, University of Cape Town, SA

2023
A Gentle Entanglement, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

2022
The tenderness of ghosts, Everard Read, Johannesburg, SA

2020
And the Animal Responded, Cubicle Series, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

2014
At First Blush, The Culture Gallery, Cape Town, SA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2027    
UPCOMING, Remixes and B-sides, curated by Sanell Aggenbach, Everard Read, London, UK

2026    
Winter Collection, Everard Read, Franschhoek, SA
Matereality V2, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, SA
Art Paris, with Everard Read, Paris, France
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, SA
Girls 3000, curated by Dominique Cheminais & Keeley Shinners, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

2025
Training Terrain, curated by Matthew Michael at DEMO projects, Cape Town, SA
RMB Latitudes Art Fair, with Everard Read, Johannesburg, SA
Alert and Attuned: Attending to Our Climate Emergency, Gretchen Schuette, Oregon, USA

2024    
Sublime Spirits, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, USA
Inner Sanctum, Everard Read, Johannesburg, SA
FNB Art Joburg, with Everard Read, Johannesburg, SA
Little Life, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA
Latitudes Art Fair, with Everard Read, Johannesburg, SA

2023
What I Feel When I Think About The Cosmos, Everard Read, Franschhoek, SA
The Other’s Warmth, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

2022
Seeds of the Fig, curated by Reservoir, Krone Estate, Tulbagh, SA 
Things I’d like to remember, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

2021
Oasis, 25th Anniversary Exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA
Winter, group exhibition, Everard Read, London, UK
Art on Paper, Kalk Bay Modern, Cape Town SA

2020
Summer, group exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

2019
Conversations with Irma, group exhibition, Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town, SA

2018
Art on Paper, group exhibition, Kalk Bay Modern, Cape Town, SA 

2017
Mixed Metaphors, group exhibition, The Forge, Cape Town, SA

2016
Art|Out of the Ordinary, group exhibition, AVA Gallery, Cape Town, SA

2013
My Mother's Garden, group exhibition, Arts on Main, Johannesburg, SA
In Good Company, group exhibition, Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town, SA

2012
Domestic departures, group exhibition, Kalk Bay Modern, Cape Town, SA

COLLECTIONS

BRAINLAB Vilsmeier & Linhares Collection, Munich Germany
D Ross Collection, USA
Enthoven Collection, South Africa
G Fox Collection, UK
Holbar Collection, Liechtenstein 
R Oppenheimer Collection, South Africa
J Roux Collection, South Africa
H Rupert Collection, South Africa
The White Rabbit Collection, Australia
W Kentridge Collection, South Africa

EDUCATION

1984-86 Ruth Prowse Art College, Cape Town, South Africa
2008 – ongoing Rose Shakinovsky and Claire Gavronsky, collectively known as Rosenclaire
2024 – Postgraduate Diploma, Michaelis Art School University of Cape Town, South Africa