Zethu Maseko is a London-based multidisciplinary artist whose work spans weaving, tufting, textiles, sound and installation. Her practice explores water as an archive of lived experience, ancestral knowledge and memory—drawing on her Southern African heritage, environmental motifs and processes of repair and storytelling.
2023
2022
2022
Working in large-scale tapestries and wall hangings, Maseko uses natural dyes, recycled fabrics and symbolic forms, creating slow, tactile works that fold together myth, womanhood and migration. Her material approach is rooted in traditional craft while also pushing into experimental sound and textile practices.
As a socially engaged artist, Zethu facilitates community workshops and experiments in textile-sound practice—inviting participants to weave, listen, and reflect on interconnectedness. Her work has been recognised through selection for Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2020 at the South London Gallery, support from Arts Council England, and residencies in Cornwall, Cape Town and Johannesburg.
Highlights
Solo Exhibitions
2025 Lagos to Lagos: Unless the Water Is Safer than the Land, Lagos Cultural Center, Lagos
2023 Biophilia [Soft and Tender Extinction Series], Uma Lulik_, Lisbon
2023 The Deep, Morais Leitão Collection, Lisbon
2021 Olokun, Uma Lulik_, Lisbon
2020 Inhale, Exhale (Self Breathing Kit), Travessa da Ermida, Lisbon
2019 Sensorial Divinities, Dimora Artica, Milan
2018 Art Rotterdam, solo booth with Hawaii-Lisbon, Rotterdam
2017 As Always, a Matter of Perspective, Hawaii-Lisbon, Lisbon
2016 While Satellites Dance, TAL Gallery, Rio de Janeiro
2015 Fold/Fault, Forty/Forty, Warsaw
2014 Magma, P28, Cascais
2013 Emotional Landscapes, Arte Institute
Group Exhibitions
2025 Sovereign Art Prize, Lisbon
2024 Infinite Serpent, BF24 Bienalle, V. F. Xira
2023 Traces of a Cathode, S1 Artspace, Sheffield, UK
2022 Chasseurs de Tempêtes, Passerelle Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brest, France
2022 Inéditos 2022: BAD GIRLS / Becoming Island, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain
2021 Denken wie ein Oktopus (Thinking like an Octopus…), Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen, Germany
2016 Periplos, CAC Málaga Museum, Málaga, Spain
Residencies & Projects
2019 Untitled, Hangar, Lisbon
2014 Hifa – Harare International Festival of Arts, Zimbabwe
2013 Walk & Talk Art Festival, São Miguel Island, Azores
2011 Artur (International Residency Programme), Lagos, Portugal