BIOGRAPHY
SANELL AGGENBACH
(b.1975, Cape Town, South Africa)
Sanell Aggenbach’s work deals primarily with the intersection of history and private narratives by considering the process of recall and interpretation. Her work displays an accomplished virtuosity as she moves comfortably between the various disciplines of painting, printmaking and sculpture and since 2003 she has focused mainly on subverted feminine tropes and feminist themes.
In her most recent solo exhibition Bend to Her Will she subtly and mischievously reframed the hobbyist art of flower arranging by appropriating the traditionally masculine art of Japanese Ikebana. Her sculptural work, primarily in bronze, parody Western masterpieces from Michelangelo, Henry Moore, and Warhol to Pierneef and take a refreshing look at these pivotal references from a woman’s perspective.
"My earlier works relied heavily on processing found imagery, rethinking associations and creating new fictions. These works were often an amalgamation of historic references with private narratives and forms part of a process of investigating pathologies and deconstructing the past. My primary intention is to construct subtle paradoxes by introducing a quite humour, either formally or materially.”
Aggenbach's explorative work has secured her many achievements including winning the Absa L’Atelier Award in 2003. Her work is represented in numerous public and private collections, including Sasol, Absa, Spier, SABC, Red Bull (Austria), the South African National Gallery, 21C Museum in Kentucky (USA) and Anglo Gold.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025
Past Lives / New Works, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2023
Nightshade, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town, South Africa
2021
The Great Lulllll, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town, South Africa
2019
The Heart Has Many Rooms, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
2017
Galerie Christine Colon, Liege, Belgium
Retrospective plein air exhibition - Jardin des Plantes des Capellans, Saint-Cyprien, France
Envie d'écrire, sourire et dessiner - Galerie Nathalie Gaillard - Private House, Paris, France
Gilles Naudin Galerie, Paris, France
Bend To Her Will, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Johannesburg, South Africa
Bend To Her Will, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town, South Africa
2016
Festival of Faiths, Louisville, USA
Collector, Banque Nationale de Paris, Paris, France
Collection Day, with Nathalie Gaillard and Sophie Deschamps – Espace Bosquet, Paris, France
Beirut Art Fair, with SUD Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
Dessins, estampes, sculptures, Galerie Chantal Mélanson, Annecy, France
2015
Atopia, NWU Gallery, Potchefstroom, South Africa
2013
Familia Obscura, Brundyn Gallry, Cape Town, South Africa
2011
SOME DANCE TO REMEMBER SOME DANCE TO FORGET, Blank Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Graceland, Gallery AOP, Johannesburg, South Africa
Perfectly Still, Absa Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Sub Rosa, João Ferreira Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
From A Netherworld, Bell-Roberts Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
10 Years | Summer 2025, Everard Read, London, UK
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Motherhood, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Art Düsseldorf, with Mario Mauroner Contemporary Art, Düsseldorf, Germany
2024
Inner Sanctum, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
Winter Collection, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa
FNB Art Joburg, with Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
The Night, Mario Mauroner Contemporary Art, Salzburg, Austria
2023
If You Look Hard Enough You Can See Our Future, African American Museum, Dallas, USA
Bitches Brew, Everard Read Johannesburg, South Africa
2022
Seeds of the Fig, Reservoir & Whatiftheworld X Krone, Twee Jonge Gezellen, Tulbagh, South Africa
2021
Between Strangers, Nuweland Gallery, Netherlands
2020
Against Interpretation, Everard Read, London, UK
Over The Rainbow, Red Bull Hangar-7, Salzburg, Austria
2019
MERDELAMERDELAMERDELAMERDELAMERDELAMER, curated by Kendell Geers, Mario Mauroner Contemporary
Art, Vienna, Austria
2018
In the Forest of the Night, Everard Read, Johannesburg South Africa
SUMMER, Everard Read Gallery, London, UK
2017
In the Forests of the Night, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
The Future is Female, 21C Museum Hotels, Louisville, USA
2015
Foreign Bodies, Whatiftheworld, Cape Town, South Africa
2014
20 Years of Democracy, Appalachian State University, North Carolina, USA
2012
Positive Tension, Whatiftheworld Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Seeing Eye, Brundyn + Gonsalves, Cape Town, South Africa
Paint I, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2011
Alptraum, Deutscher Kuenstlerbund, Berlin, Germany
2010
Twenty, contemporary public sculpture, Nirox, Johannesburg, South Africa
2007
Arcadia, AVA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Turbulence, Hangar-7, Salzburg, Austria
2005
Sweet Nothings, Bell-Roberts Gallery,Cape Town, South Africa
2004
2nd Spier Outdoor Sculpture Biennial, Stellenbosch, South Africa
2003
YDESIRE, Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town, South Africa
2001
Micro/Macro, South African Printmakers at the Xchanges Gallery, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
2015
Aardklop Festival artist, South Africa
2009
Ampersand fellowship, New York, USA
2005
Curator: ‘Sweet Nothings’, Bell-Roberts Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Nominated for a Kanna Award, KKNK
2003
Winner of the 2003 ABSA L’Atelier
2000
Merit award: Anglo Gold Riches of Africa Design Competition
1999
Selected for the UNESCO-Aschberg Residency programme, Sanskriti Kendra, New Delhi, India
Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town Absa Collection Anglo Gold South Africa Hollard Collection Sasol Collection Spier Collection Didata SABC Labour 24 Pty Ltd Red Bull Collection, Salzburg, Austria New Church Museum 21C Museum in Kentucky
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2025
Sanell Aggenbach
2013
Familia Obscura
2009
Graceland Catalogue
2007
Turbulence, Hangar-7, Austria Sanell Aggenbach Catalogue Artinvestor, Germany Art South Africa Vol. 5, Issue 04; Page 82 (Review)
2005
Cape Town Month of Photography
2004
2nd Spier Sculpture Biennale Catalogue Sasol Art Museum, University of Stellenbosch
2003
ABSA L’Atelier Catalogue Art South Africa Vol. 02, Issue 01; Page 14 (Review)
2002
