Biography
"I was born into a colonised body, in a colonised land, inside a colonised world. My art is the long work of refusing all three. The wound is real — and healing, in Sawubona, is the most honest response I know. We are not only because of each other — we are because of the water, the soil, the air, the forest, the ancestors, the not yet born across all species. I see you. In seeing you, I call you into being. This is what my art does — for the erased, the stolen, the silenced, and the not yet born — human and more than human."
Ngoba Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu.
— HRH Sithabile Mlotshwa
About my practice
“My practice is rooted in 25 years of transdisciplinary artistic research across 76 countries and six continents — critically researching, retracing, and visually mapping the interconnectedness of colonial conquests, slavery, scientific racism, genocide, environmental destruction, and their direct continuation in the colonial machines of our present: the patenting of nature, extractive finance, land dispossession, and artificial intelligence embedding itself into Global Majority futures without consent.
I do not treat colonialism as history. I treat it as an unbroken chain — one that determines who is recognised as fully human and who is designated for extraction, who belongs to the land and who is torn from it. A chain that shattered the sacred interdependence between human and more-than-human life — between people, water, soil, forest, air, ancestors, and the not yet born. That severance was not natural. It was deliberately destroyed. And its destruction made all other destructions possible — destructions that did not stop. They deepened, intensified, globalised, digitalised. They are here, now, accelerating.
But research and refusal are not the destination. The destination is healing. Through Sawubona — the Ubuntu philosophy of radical mutual recognition — my work moves from bearing witness to calling forth. From documenting the wound to creating the conditions in which repair becomes possible. For the living, for the ancestors, for the not yet born — human and more than human.”
Installation: Mokkum not Mokum - Amsterdam Museum HRH Sithabile Mlotshwa | Zimbabwean – Dutch
HRH Sithabile Mlotshwa (Zimbabwe, b. 1975) is a Transdisciplinary Artist, Independent Curator, Filmmaker, Author, Researcher, and Designer based in the Netherlands. Born into a land already living inside the long aftermath of colonial violence. She has spent 25 years making that violence visible — and making healing possible. She is the recipient of the 2024 - 2026 CDCD Residency Grant for a three-year programme co-funded by the EU Creative Europe, engaging artists to examine European colonialism's legacy in museums and heritage sites. She is also recipient of the 2024 EKWC Research Residency Grant and the Stichting Van Achterbergh-Domhof Grant, in preparation to produce the 10 000 historical tiles project on Dutch Colonial history, the 2023 - 2024 Mondriaan Fonds Grant - Slavery Memorial year for her project – Castle Zypendaal - Tracing Hidden parts of Slavery in the Gelderland region and the 2023 Mondriaan Fonds Grant for her project, Mokkum not Mokum.
Selected notable exhibitions include: the major historical exhibition, Golden Coach, (Gouden Koerts), at the Amsterdam Museum that was officially opened by the King of the Netherlands, (The World Made Wondrous: Dutch Collector's Cabinet and the Politics of Possession) exhibition, at LACMA - the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, (War and Conflict) Refresh Biennale, Amsterdam Museum, Inheritance – Mapping Colonial History # 2 at Museum Arnhem, the UNITED NATIONS Exhibition and panel discussion on “Cultural Identity and Ownership: Reshaping Mindsets”, Prête-moi Ton Rêve, at Musée des cultures Contemporaines Adama Toungara d'Abobo, in Abidjan, Biennale of Casablanca in Morocco, PANAF - MAMA Museum in Algiers, KUNST aus Zimbabwe - KUNST in Zimbabwe, Museum of Bayreuth, Germany, Longman's Women Biennale - National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Coming of Age, at Museum of Aschaffenburg in Germany, Recoleta Culture Centre in Buenos Aires, Douala Biennale in Cameroon, National Geographic exhibition House of Wonders Museum in Zanzibar, Africa 53, at Cooper & Civic Galleries in Barnsley, UK, Frölunda kulturhus in Sweden, Leeuwarden European Culture Capital project and a commission at the Kelvingrove Museums and Galleries in Glasgow, Scotland.
Aside from her Art practice and curatorial projects, Sithabile is also the Lead Researcher and Artistic Director of Mapping Colonial History, Founding Director Thamgidi Foundation, Producer & Artistic director IFAA Art Platform, which includes editions in (Paris, Belgium, Nijmegen, Arnhem, Kamina, Amsterdam and beyond). She is the Co-producer and Curator of the 1st edition of Yango Biennale 2014, Producer and Artistic director, Art, Books En Wine, Collector's Weekend and “Green is Cool” (a recycling Design Lab and Fashion show for young people).
Shortlisted for the 2020 Municipal Acquisitions at Stedelijk Museum, she was 2010 Speaker at TEDxWomen Amsterdam and got published in The Next Women (an Online Magazine for Female Business Heroes) as an inspirational woman. Her IFAA project was nominated for the 2016 TEDxAmsterdam Awards. She is the Former Secretary-General of ResArtis, an international, worldwide network of Artists in Residency Programs and 2008 President of the Jury Dak'art Biennale. She was also selected for the Asia-Europe Network Training Program of Independent Autonomous Art Centers in Paris organised by Asia Europe Foundation, Trans Europe Halles & Artfactories, where she represented the Netherlands for the building of the Asia – Europe Network for Independent autonomous art centres. She took part in restoring Cyrene Mission (restoration of a church which is on the UNESCO world heritage list).
Her works are collected worldwide, with a major commission by the Kelvingrove Museums and Galleries, officially opened by Her Majesty the Queen of England. The installation, the only piece from Southern Africa in the Museum collection, is displayed alongside Picasso, Rembrandt, and Dali, in Glasgow, Scotland, and is also featured and promoted on Art UK, a cultural education charity working to transform access to the UK's public art collections.
Sithabile was published in the Rebelle Art & Feminism 1969 -2009 catalogue of the Museum of Modern Art in Arnhem, which offers a retrospective look at the Dutch women's art movement, paying particular attention, among other things, to the role of Women in the Visual Arts Foundation and the role of women artists in artists' initiatives.
Current major exhibitions include: Afrikonnexions curated by Michèle Desmottes — an international travelling exhibition at Texaf Bilembo, Kinshasa; La Rotonde des Arts, Abidjan; Galerie Abali, Yaoundé; Musée de l'IFAN, Dakar; and Tour & Taxis, Brussels · Casablanca Biennale 2026, Morocco · Papier Biennale 2026, Museum Rijswijk, Netherlands · CDCD group exhibition, in Cyprus September 2026.
The Ocean Manifesto (Metis / JBE Books, Paris, 2025) — one of 100 artists selected worldwide, presented at the United Nations Ocean Conference, Nice, June 2025, where she was a panelist alongside leading international voices on art, ocean rights, and climate justice · Bookcover for the Alkmaar en het Slavernijverleden publication by Karwan Fatah-Black & Camilla de Koning, 2026 · She is also featured in Volg het Spoor publication by Gemeente Arnhem about Slavery History in Arnhem — artwork commission for the educational publication for schools and civil servants; first print of 10,000 distributed, second reprint of 7,500 copies.
HRH Sithabile Mlotshwa (Zimbabwe, b. 1975) is a Transdisciplinary Artist, Independent Curator, Filmmaker, Author, Researcher, and Designer based in the Netherlands. Born into a land already living inside the long aftermath of colonial violence. She has spent 25 years making that violence visible — and making healing possible. She is the recipient of the 2024 - 2026 CDCD Residency Grant for a three-year programme co-funded by the EU Creative Europe, engaging artists to examine European colonialism's legacy in museums and heritage sites. She is also recipient of the 2024 EKWC Research Residency Grant and the Stichting Van Achterbergh-Domhof Grant, in preparation to produce the 10 000 historical tiles project on Dutch Colonial history, the 2023 - 2024 Mondriaan Fonds Grant - Slavery Memorial year for her project – Castle Zypendaal - Tracing Hidden parts of Slavery in the Gelderland region and the 2023 Mondriaan Fonds Grant for her project, Mokkum not Mokum.
Selected notable exhibitions include: the major historical exhibition, Golden Coach, (Gouden Koerts), at the Amsterdam Museum that was officially opened by the King of the Netherlands, (The World Made Wondrous: Dutch Collector's Cabinet and the Politics of Possession) exhibition, at LACMA - the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, (War and Conflict) Refresh Biennale, Amsterdam Museum, Inheritance – Mapping Colonial History # 2 at Museum Arnhem, the UNITED NATIONS Exhibition and panel discussion on “Cultural Identity and Ownership: Reshaping Mindsets”, Prête-moi Ton Rêve, at Musée des cultures Contemporaines Adama Toungara d'Abobo, in Abidjan, Biennale of Casablanca in Morocco, PANAF - MAMA Museum in Algiers, KUNST aus Zimbabwe - KUNST in Zimbabwe, Museum of Bayreuth, Germany, Longman's Women Biennale - National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Coming of Age, at Museum of Aschaffenburg in Germany, Recoleta Culture Centre in Buenos Aires, Douala Biennale in Cameroon, National Geographic exhibition House of Wonders Museum in Zanzibar, Africa 53, at Cooper & Civic Galleries in Barnsley, UK, Frölunda kulturhus in Sweden, Leeuwarden European Culture Capital project and a commission at the Kelvingrove Museums and Galleries in Glasgow, Scotland.
Aside from her Art practice and curatorial projects, Sithabile is also the Lead Researcher and Artistic Director of Mapping Colonial History, Founding Director Thamgidi Foundation, Producer & Artistic director IFAA Art Platform, which includes editions in (Paris, Belgium, Nijmegen, Arnhem, Kamina, Amsterdam and beyond). She is the Co-producer and Curator of the 1st edition of Yango Biennale 2014, Producer and Artistic director, Art, Books En Wine, Collector's Weekend and “Green is Cool” (a recycling Design Lab and Fashion show for young people).
Shortlisted for the 2020 Municipal Acquisitions at Stedelijk Museum, she was 2010 Speaker at TEDxWomen Amsterdam and got published in The Next Women (an Online Magazine for Female Business Heroes) as an inspirational woman. Her IFAA project was nominated for the 2016 TEDxAmsterdam Awards. She is the Former Secretary-General of ResArtis, an international, worldwide network of Artists in Residency Programs and 2008 President of the Jury Dak'art Biennale. She was also selected for the Asia-Europe Network Training Program of Independent Autonomous Art Centers in Paris organised by Asia Europe Foundation, Trans Europe Halles & Artfactories, where she represented the Netherlands for the building of the Asia – Europe Network for Independent autonomous art centres. She took part in restoring Cyrene Mission (restoration of a church which is on the UNESCO world heritage list).
Her works are collected worldwide, with a major commission by the Kelvingrove Museums and Galleries, officially opened by Her Majesty the Queen of England. The installation, the only piece from Southern Africa in the Museum collection, is displayed alongside Picasso, Rembrandt, and Dali, in Glasgow, Scotland, and is also featured and promoted on Art UK, a cultural education charity working to transform access to the UK's public art collections.
Sithabile was published in the Rebelle Art & Feminism 1969 -2009 catalogue of the Museum of Modern Art in Arnhem, which offers a retrospective look at the Dutch women's art movement, paying particular attention, among other things, to the role of Women in the Visual Arts Foundation and the role of women artists in artists' initiatives.
Current major exhibitions include: Afrikonnexions curated by Michèle Desmottes — an international travelling exhibition at Texaf Bilembo, Kinshasa; La Rotonde des Arts, Abidjan; Galerie Abali, Yaoundé; Musée de l'IFAN, Dakar; and Tour & Taxis, Brussels · Casablanca Biennale 2026, Morocco · Papier Biennale 2026, Museum Rijswijk, Netherlands · CDCD group exhibition, in Cyprus September 2026.
Recent publications featuring her work
The Ocean Manifesto (Metis / JBE Books, Paris, 2025) — one of 100 artists selected worldwide, presented at the United Nations Ocean Conference, Nice, June 2025, where she was a panelist alongside leading international voices on art, ocean rights, and climate justice · Bookcover for the Alkmaar en het Slavernijverleden publication by Karwan Fatah-Black & Camilla de Koning, 2026 · She is also featured in Volg het Spoor publication by Gemeente Arnhem about Slavery History in Arnhem — artwork commission for the educational publication for schools and civil servants; first print of 10,000 distributed, second reprint of 7,500 copies.