FAITH XLVII

(b. 1979  Cape Town, South Africa)

Liberty Du, who is widely recognised as Faith XLVII, is a multi-disciplinary South African artist.

Her journey into art began on the streets of South Africa in 1997, as a young graffiti writer taking on the name Faith47 (the number being a reference to her grandmother’s numerological theorem). In 2006, Liberty began on a nomadic journey which has brought her to create works in 39 countries.

Her evolution from street artist to multi-disciplinary artist has created a fluid yet solid bridge into the contemporary art world. This explorative approach has led her to develop a broad range of artwork. This ranges from immersive new media installations and hand-sewn wall tapestries, to sculptural bronze works investigating hierarchies of power, paintings and various explorations into printmaking. The thread of Liberty’s practice can be traced from abandoned structures, landmark 20-storey buildings to museums and galleries, all the way through to intimate site-specific installations.

One can observe in Liberty’s approach evidence of her own personal quest, which in turn brings to the forefront much larger concerns of universal social and political complexities. Through the use of these various mediums, Liberty finds a unique series of poetic tones that lend their voice to her expression. We see in her work the longing for a deeper connection to nature, and a resurrection of the divine feminine. There is too the active investigation and questioning of the human condition, its deviant histories and our own inherent existential search. This all serves to imbue her narratives with the ebb and flow between pain and contemplation, imploring us to examine our place in the world.

Today, her artwork can be found in the several private and public collections including Universal Studios in Los Angeles, Lighthouse Properties in Philadelphia and the Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation in South Africa. She has shown at the Calais Museum of Fine Art and the Bernard Magrez Foundation in France, Mana Contemporary and the Brooklyn Museum, both in the USA.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND PROJECTS

2021       CHANT, solo exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

FAITH XLVII X KOLEKA PUTUMA, 'Every 3 Hours One of Us Doesn't Make It', Highway Notice Project, with the Centre for the Less Good Idea, Johannesburg, South Africa

‘Salute to the Women of Johannesburg’, part of the Hennessy Mural Trilogy, Johannesburg, South Africa

2020       Home, digital exhibition, Void Projects

                Staring Straight to the Future, digital exhibition, Everard Read

                Pink, group exhibition, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

                Unprecedented Times, group exhibition, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Vienna, Austria

                Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2019       Context Miami Art Fair, with Everard Read, Miami, USA

Art Basel, Miami, USA

Universal Studios Indoor Artwork Commission, Los Angeles, USA
Dictator Art Installation, Columbia
Design Indaba Talk and AURUM Performance, Cape Town, South Africa
The Freedom Piece, group exhibition, The Pailpat Hotel, Los Angeles, USA
20 Year Anniversary Exhibition, Cory Helford Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Together, group exhibition, KP Projects Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Conquête Urbaine, Calais Museum of Fine Art, Paris, France
United Labor Organization 100 Year Mural, New York City, USA
Maya Angelou School Mural Upliftment Project, Los Angeles, USA
Mural Arts Large Mural Production, Philadelphia, USA
Mural commission, Charlottesville, USA
Projection Mapping Mural, BLINK, Cincinnati, USA

2018       Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Everard Read CIRCA Gallery Cape Town, South Africa
Short Film Festival CortoLovere, Italy
Mana Contemporary group exhibition
Moniker Art Fair, New York, USA
Grand Opening Mirus Gallery, Denver, USA
Beyond The Streets, Los Angeles, USA
Mural Project, Vancouver, Canada
Mural Project, North Carolina, USA
Artmosphere, Russia
One Way Through, group exhibition, Heron Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Elixir, solo exhibition, Miami, USA
Moniker Art Fair, London, UK
Destination 131, Paris, France
Summit LA18, Los Angeles, USA
Conquête Urbaine, Paris, France
Women in Street Art, Paris, France

2017      Urban Nation Museum, group exhibition and public art intervention, Berlin, Germany

Arts Council Public art intervention, New Orleans, USA

Homeless, group exhibition curated by Axel Void, Miami, USA

The Urban Art Biennale, UNESCO Voelklinger Huette World heritage site, Germany

Magic Cities, Munich, Germany

Digard Auction, Tribute to Paris, Paris, France

Urban Currents, group show, Gallerie Kirk, Denmark

Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Everard Read,  Cape Town, South Africa

2016      XX: A moment in time, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK

Cities of Hope Mural Project, Manchester, UK
Inter|urban Mural Project, Cleveland USA
Freedom as Form, group exhibition, Wunderkammern Gallery, Milan, Italy

PM10, Urban Nation Museum group exhibition, Berlin, Germany Agitprop, Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA                                                                                          Wynwood Walls, Art Basel, Miami, USA

2015      Aqua Regalia, solo exhibition, Jonathan Levine Gallery, New York, USA  

Pow Wow Taiwan, Taipei,Taiwan                                                                                                                                     

Landfill Meditation, Street Intervention, Johannesburg, South Africa                                                                            

Art Liberté group exhibition, Du Mur de Berlin, Gare de l’Est, Paris, France                                                         

Dragon Tiger Mountain, Mural Project, Nanchang, China

 Ono’u, Mural Project, Tahiti                                                                                                                                          

Festival Mural, Montreal, Canada                                                                                                                                               

The Psychic Power of Animals, Street Intervention, New York, USA

Murals for Oceans Expedition Mural Project, Cozumel, Mexico

2014       Aqua Regalia, solo exhibition, London, UK
Berlin Wall 25th Anniversary, group exhibition, Paris, France
Library Street Collective group exhibition, Basel, Miami, USA
Redux, group exhibition, Inoperable Gallery, Vienna, Austria
Artscape Mural Project, Malmo, Sweden
5 Sector Mural Project, Glasgow, Scotland
Djerbahood, Djerba, Tunisia
Forest for the Trees Mural Project, Portland, USA
Rencontres Australes de Imaitsoanala, Antananarivo, Madagascar
Outdoor Urban Art Festival, Rome, Italy
The Art of Collaboration Wynwood Walls, Basel, Miami, USA
Artesano Mural Project, Rio San Juan, Dominican Republic

2013       Women on the Walls, group exhibition, Jeffrey Deitch and Wynwood Walls Miami, USA
Wooster Collective 10 Year Anniversary Show, Jonathan Levine Gallery, New York, USA
XII Into the Dark, group exhibition, Unit44, The Victoria Tunnel, Newcastle, UK
Brotkunsthalle, group exhibition, Vienna, Austria
Beyond Eden, group exhibition, Thinkspace Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Anniversary, group exhibition, White Walls Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Memorie Urbane Mural Project, Gaeta, Italy
Sculptura Viva International Symposium, San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy
Nuart Mural Project, Stavanger, Norway
MAUS Mural Project, Malaga, Spain
Avant-Garde Urbano Mural Project, Tudela de Navarra, Spain
Los Muros Hablan Mural Project, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Pow Wow Mural Project, Hawaii

2012       Fragments of a Burnt History, solo exhibition, David Krut Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Antenna Garden Dal & Faith47, Rtist Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
International Women, group exhibition, Warrington Museum, London, UK
Mural Project, Tel Aviv, Israel
Aarhus International Mural Project, Aarhus, Denmark
Group exhibition, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Sweden
Mural Project, Sion, Switzerland
Mural Project, Melun, France
Wall Therapy Mural Project, Rochester, New York, USA
Wynwood Walls, Miami, USA

2011       Urban Painting, group exhibition, Milan, Italy
Group exhibition, Wuppertal Museum, Germany
Group exhibition, Warrington Museum, London, UK
Gossip Well Told, group exhibition, Blackall Studio, London, UK
Les murs itinerrance, group exhibition, Paris, France
Urban Mural Project, Greece
City Leaks Mural Project, Cologne, Germany
Inner Walls Mural Project, Milan, Italy
Batelier Mural Project, Slovakia

2010       Moniker Art Fair, London, UK
Design For Humanity, group exhibition, Thinkspace, Los Angeles, USA
For Those Who Live In It, group exhibition, Mu Gallery, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Le Salon Du Cercle De La Culture, group exhibition, Circle Culture Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Stroke03 Art Fair, Berlin, Germany
Escape Art Fair, Vienna, Austria
Biennial, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Focus10 Art Fair, Switzerland
Urbanus International, Mural Project, China
Muao Mural Project, A Coruna, Spain

2009       The Generations, group exhibition, The Showroom Gallery, New York, USA
Epitaph, solo exhibition, Mrego, Brussels, Belgium
Four, group exhibition, 34 Long Fine Art, Cape Town, South Africa
Artotale International, Mural Project, Luneburg, Germany

2008       The Restless Debt Of Third World Beauty, solo exhibition, Atm Gallery, Berlin, Germany
1st Internationale Graffiti Biennale, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Anything Could Happen, group exhibition, Carmichael Gallery, Los Angeles, USA

2007       Be Girl Be, Mural Project, Intermedia Arts, Minneapolis, USA
Pick of the Harvest, group exhibition, Thinkspace Gallery, Los Angeles, USA

2006       Lines of Attitude, group exhibition and Mural Project, South Africa And Kenya

2005       Subglob, group exhibition, Orebro, Sweden
Go Gallery, group exhibition, Amsterdam, Netherlands