LADY SKOLLIE

(b. 1987 Cape Town, South Africa)

Lady Skollie (born Laura Windvogel) is an artist and activist from Cape Town, South Africa. She graduated with a degree in History of Art and Dutch Literature from the University of Cape Town in 2009 and trained in printmaking. Since graduating, her solo exhibitions include ‘Vroeg Ryp, Vroeg Vrot’, 2015, Stevenson Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa; ‘Ask for what you want’, WorldArt Gallery, 2015, Cape Town, South Africa; ‘The only reason’, 2014, Stevenson Gallery RAMP Project, Cape Town, South Africa and ‘Skattie Celebrates Laura Windvogel’, Association for Visual Arts Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa, 2017. Her highly-anticipated first solo show at Everard Read Johannesburg opened at the end of May in 2019.

Filled with bold colour, god-like figures and suggestive fruits, Lady Skollie’s work revolves around themes of gender, sex and the politics of lust, as well as her explorations of identity.

The artist’s work has been exhibited widely across South Africa, and at a number of international solo and group exhibitions and art fairs. In 2017, along with Tschabalala Self and Abe Odedina, the artist contributed artwork for the stage design of a gala performance of The Children’s Monologues, a benefit held by the charitable organisation Dramatic Need, directed by Danny Boyle and held at Carnegie Hall in New York, NY, USA. She has been featured on BBC Africa and CNN International on African Voices, as well as on the BBC World Service’s online and radio series In the Studio. She was included in the 2018 edition of OkayAfrica’s 100 Women, an annual list which honours women across 10 different fields for their achievements and influence. She was recognised with the 2019 Mbokodo Award for Art and Design, which celebrates the pioneering spirit of South African women advancing the arts. She also received the 2019 GQ Woman of the Year Award.

In 2019, Windvogel was commissioned to design the new R5 coin to commemorate 25 years of constitutional democracy in South Africa. The coin is currently in circulation throughout South Africa.

In 2020, Lady Skollie was announced as the 10th recipient of the prestigious FNB Art Prize, joining the likes of Bronwyn Katz, Haroon Gunn-Salie, Nolan Oswald Dennis and Turiya Magadlela. She presented a solo exhibition later that year, Bound, at Everard Read Cape Town, followed by a solo exhibition at Everard Read Johannesburg in 2021.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023     Upcoming, Standard Bank Young Artist Traveling Exhibition

2021     A Prediction, solo, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

2020     Bound, solo, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2019     Good & Evil, solo, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

            Weakest Link, solo, Eastside Projects, Birmingham, UK

            Solo booth at Art Joburg, with Everard Read Johannesburg, South Africa

2017     Lust Politics, solo, Tyburn Gallery, London, UK

             Fire with Fire, solo booth at FNB Joburg Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa

             Mating Dance, solo booth at AKAA Art Fair, Paris, France

             Hottentot $kollie, Tomorrows/Today, Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa

2015     One-Night, WorldArt Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2015     Vroeg Ryp, Vroeg Vrot, RAMP Project, Stevenson Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

2014     Skattie Celebrates Series, Association for Visual Arts Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS AND FAIRS

2023     Bitches Brew, Everard Read Johannesbug, South Africa

2022     Art Joburg, with Everard Read Johannesburg, South Africa

            1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, with Everard Read, Paris, France

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

            Things I’d Like to Remember, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

            Ancestors and Dreams, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

2021     Spring Show, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

            Transitory Terrain, Everard Read, London, UK

            In Conversation, Everard Read CIRCA, Cape Town

           Art Joburg, with Everard Read Johannesburg, South Africa

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

2020     Against Interpretation, Everard Read, London, UK

            Staring Straight to the Future, online exhibition, Everard Read, South Africa & UK

            Masterpiece online, with Everard Read, London, UK

2019     CONTEXT Art Miami, with Everard Read, Miami, USA

             Art Joburg, with Everard Read Johannesburg, South Africa

2018     Old Masters / New Realities: Gerard Sekoto x Lady Skollie, TMRW Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

             This Is the Gallery and the Gallery Is Many Things X at Eastside Projects, Birmingham, UK

            Close: Proximity, Intimacy, Tension, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

           Right at the Equator, Depart Foundation, Malibu, CA, USA

           Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Tyburn Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2016     1:54 Fair, with Tyburn Gallery, London, UK

             SEX, Stevenson Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa