Kapwani Kiwanga

Kapwani Kiwanga is a Cana­dian-born artist whose work exam­ines the endur­ing impact of power dynam­ics by engag­ing with histor­i­cal narra­tives and their rele­vance in contem­po­rary life. Living and working between Paris and Berlin, Kiwanga’s research-driven approach draws from margin­al­ized histo­ries, bring­ing forgot­ten or over­looked stories to the fore­front through a wide range of mate­ri­als and mediums, includ­ing sculp­ture, photog­ra­phy, video, perfor­mance, and installation.

Known for her deep, intel­lec­tual inquiries into power struc­tures, Kiwanga’s art creates dialogues between the past, present, and future possi­bil­i­ties. Her acco­lades include the Sobey Art Prize (2018), the Marcel Duchamp Prize (2020), and the Zurich Art Prize (2022). In 2025, she was short­listed for the Joan Miró Prize. Kiwanga has exhib­ited glob­ally in major insti­tu­tions such as the New Museum in New York, Serralves Foun­da­tion in Porto, and Bozar in Brus­sels, among others. She also repre­sented Canada at the 60th Venice Bien­nale in 2022.

Through her artis­tic prac­tice, Kiwanga brings atten­tion to social, cultural, and envi­ron­men­tal issues. Her collab­o­ra­tion with Kvadrat resulted in the creation of Diade, a textile explor­ing the colour universe and sustainability.