The AVA is a non-profit, membership based art organisation whose aim is the advancement of visual art.

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Featured work: Mduduzi Twala, umthandazo wethu, 2025 (detail)

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

29.01.26 - 05.03.26

The Crow Messengers

Judith Westerveld

Sacred Debris

Kirsty Tinkler

Making Space

Nando’s Creative Exchange | Spier Arts Trust

Ain’t Shit Funny But A Joke Ni…

Tusevo Landu

Join us at the 2026 ICTAF.
Booth SP4.

We will be showcasing the talent of The Printing Girls (TPG) - a collective of female artists from across South Africa who work in print.

Spotlighting the individual voices of members Lebogang Mogul Mabusela, Kristen McClarty, Emma Willemse, Mbali Tshabalala, Natasha Norman, and Clare Menck..

tickets

A LONG AND REMARKABLE LEGACY

Dating back to 1850, the AVA is the oldest nonprofit gallery in Cape Town with the mission to advance contemporary art and artists.

The AVA is committed to being the most accessible professional gallery space for emerging and independent artists to exhibit and develop their work.

LEARN MORE

A LIVING ARCHIVE

Discover AVA’s digital archive. Five decades of our archives are available online, for public access and research.

VISIT

Seeking to add to your collection?

Hannah Macfarlane, Bubblegum Swamp, 2025

Browse our general catalogue featuring a curated selection of artworks from our past exhibitions, available to purchase. For sales inquiries, contact admin@ava.co.za

Aimee Lindeque, “The man with the border collie always greets us there”, 2025 (detail)

Alka Dass, Expired, 2025

EXPLORE

PAST EXHIBITIONS:

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As Natural As Daylight: Plants, Memory and The Edge of Belonging

Group show | Curated by Yusuf Essop & Jade Nair

Try a Little Tenderness

Hannah Macfarlane and Amber Alcock

Do You Know the Place?

Aimee Lindeque

Who is King? And What Do I Know?

Gill Allderman

Everything is White

Luciano Luz

Cities of the Future - In the Past

Svea Josephy

Horizons Unbound

Suzanne Leighton

Meeting Point

Davina de Beer

The Gods Must Be Crazy

Tshepo Sizwe Phokojoe | Curated by Mzoxolo Vimba

Drawing the Line by Adelheid Frackiewicz

Absa L'Atelier Ambassador

Transposing an Echo: Reimagining Oral Setswana Poetry through Digital Intervention

Tebogo Boikanyo Matshana

Remember This Land

Stefan Raubenheimer

A Home Called Vogue

Yazeed Kamaldien

A BEAST WITH TWO BACKS

Group show | Curated by Grace Matetoa and Keely Shinners

Reflections of a Queen

Kganya Mogashoa

Tell me about a day you don’t remember

Group Show | Curated by Aaliya Dramat, Aiden Nel, Vida Madighi-Oghu and Erin Sweeney

Nanna’s Kitchen

Aaron Philander

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GEOMATICS: LAND | LAW | ORE

Jeannette Unite

Temperamental

Group show | Curated by Chloé de Villiers

JOURNAL:

AVA at the 2026 ICTAF

20 - 22 February 2026

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Exhibition Programme

2026

The Dog Is Chasing Its Tail: Tshepo Sizwe Phokojoe’s ‘The Gods Must Be Crazy’

ArtThrob review by Luca Evans

Precarious Times: Svea Josephy’s ‘Cities of the Future – In the Past’

ArtThrob review by Tiyani Rikhotso

Call for Internships (CLOSED)

Art Fair Assistant

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Winter Ceramics Exhibition Open Call

by Spier Arts Trust

Opening: Tales of History Retold at The lyatsiba Lab

Curated by Kim Gurney & Carlyn Strydom

Recalling: Reflections of a Queen at AVA Gallery

ArtThrob Student Review by Ellen Augustyn

After the Anthropocene: Stefan Raubenheimer’s Remember This Land

ArtThrob Student Review by Drew Haller

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Notice of 2025 AGM

Wednesday 12 November | 6pm

Adelheid Frackiewicz, Down the Line, 2025Adelheid Frackiewicz, Down the Line, 2025 detail 2.jpg

What Remains: Adelheid Frackiewicz’s ‘Drawing the Line’ at AVA Gallery

ArtThrob Student Review by Tara Hall

In conversation with Keely Shinners

Writer, editor, curator & performer

In conversation with Vida Madighi-Oghu

Visual artist, writer, and curator

Call for Board Member Nominations (CLOSED)

2025 AGM

In conversation with Sean O’Toole

Writer, editor and curator

PAST PROJECTS:

NEXXUS (2023)

Sonya Rademeyer, Franco Prinsloo, Caroline Sohie

iQhiya Panel at the AVA.

Uncovering a discourse centred on the voices of black women.

AVA | ICTAF: Booth SP4
Artist in Focus: Lebogang Mogul Mabusela @monotypebabe

Lebogang Mogul Mabusela is a South African printmaker and visual artist, also known as Zinequeen and Monotypebabe, whose work centres on printmaking, zine culture, and pu

AVA | ICTAF: Booth SP4
Artist in Focus: Kristen McClarty @kristenmcclarty_art

Kristen McClarty is a Cape Town-based printmaker specialising in woodcut, whose work is exhibited across South Africa and the United Kingdom. Her woodcut practice explore

AVA | ICTAF
Booth SP4, CTICC

We are so thrilled to announce our participation in the 2026 @investeccapetownartfair from the 20 - 23 February 2026.

Visit us at our booth SP4, where we will be showcasing the talent of The Printing Girls (TPG) - a c

Our first exhibitions of 2026 are officially open, and the walls are alive with new talent. As the gallery hums with new energy, we invite you to visit and experience the works firsthand.

On view:

Front Gallery: Where Are We Going? A solo exhibit

Exhibition Opening
Thursday 29 January
5pm - 8pm

Please join us this evening as we celebrate the opening of Coastline, interrupted By Tanja Bosch @hikingnerd76

Coastline, interrupted brings film, photography, and walking-based research

FOLLOW OUR JOURNEY ON INSTAGRAM

Supporting emerging and established artists of South Africa

From our annual open call, we curate up to 28 exhibitions per year at our gallery space at 35 Church Street. Principles of experimentation, collaboration and shared decision making are at the heart of the AVA.