From iconic public artworks ( discover a few of our favourites ), interesting street art, established galleries and museums to trailblazing indie spaces, and the hardworking artists' studios in the City Centre , Johannesburg is a city for art lovers. We update this guide weekly to help you navigate the ever-changing array on offer, with a curated selection of solo and group shows, artist-led walkabouts, workshops, guided tours, and other art-related events worth your while.
For a full guide to what’s on in Joburg, explore our events calendar. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter published every Thursday morning. For extra daily updates, follow our Instagram page .
Exhibition openings, events, and walkabouts (Thu, Mar 20 – Thu, Mar 27)
Opening Wed, Mar 19 – The group exhibition Fractured Foundations: Reimagining Resilience at Guns & Rain gallery features eight artists from South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe, including Nathan Vuuren , Bev Butkow , and Adrian Fortuin . "In an era where the structures that once shaped our collective existence – government, religion, and cultural conventions – are fracturing under the weight of their contradictions, we are navigating unchartered territories," reads the curatorial statement. "[This exhibition] explores the aftermath of systemic collapse, not as a site of despair but as fertile ground for renewal and adaptation."
Fri, Mar 21 from 10:30 – 12:00 – Part of Javett-UP's We, The Purple exhibition reflecting on 30 years of democracy in South Africa, Carving Histories is a conversation around Noria Mabasa's monumental wooden sculpture representing the Women's March to the Union Buildings in 1956. The panel discussion will explore this sculpture's little-known history and reflect on Mabasa's artistic legacy. RSVP here .
Sat, Mar 22 from 12:00 – 14:00 – Join META Foundation director Sara Hallatt (the team behind Contra.Joburg ) and one of the curators of RMB Latitudes art fair Denzo Nyathi as they discuss the power of collecting and investing in emerging artists' work. Alongside, the large group exhibition Salon Vanguard features work for sale by more than 30 artists. Tickets cost R350 per person and include a light lunch; book here .
Closing soon
Until Thu, Mar 20 – A solo by multidisciplinary Joburg-based practitioner William Kentridge , To Cross One More Sea at Goodman Gallery , meditates on themes of exile, return, and the artist's place in the world. Expect drawings, works on paper, small sculptures, puppets, and film – in true Kentridge style. A part historical, part fictional film projected across three screens gives this exhibition its title, and gets its African debut in this show. Two colourful, large-scale sculptures from Kentridge's Paper Procession series are erected outside the gallery.
Until Sun, Mar 23 – Off the back of his 2023 FNB Art Prize win, photographic artist Lindokuhle Sobekwa's solo exhibition Umkhondo: Going Deeper shows at Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG). In this exhibition, two significant and interconnected bodies of work – namely I carry Her photo with Me and Ezilalini (The Country) – unite under the banner of introspection and discovery as Sobekwa navigates profound personal loss and grapples with his sense of belonging. "Photography is a powerful tool," says the artist. "It has enabled me to share the realities of smaller, more intimate narratives that project onto the larger map that is South African history." The storytelling potential of photography is central to the work of Sobekwa, who documents experiences as a form of excavation. He stitches together fragments of memory in a quest to unravel the mysteries of the past, and to find comfort and closure. Read our interview with Sobekwa here.
Until Mon, Mar 31 – Thokoza-based photography initiative Of Soul and Joy presents a group exhibition, I Put My Hand On My Chest To Feel My Heartbeat, at Constitution Hill. It's a chance to see work by 16 of the programme's current and former students, who share their views on life in Thokoza – from personal narratives to community stories.
Until Mon, Mar 31 – What does it mean to be 'born free' in South Africa? Dutch photographer Ilvy Njiokiktjien's solo exhibition Born Free: Generation of Hope at the Apartheid Museum is a visual narrative of the past three decades in South Africa, since the dawn of our democracy in 1994. Through Njiokiktjien's lens, we encounter an intimate portrayal of the first generation to grow up after apartheid rule. It's a poignant body of work that delves into the promise of a "rainbow nation", dealing equally with hope and disillusionment.
Photo: Apartheid Museum.
More art highlights
Until Fri, Mar 28 – Khanya Mthethwa celebrates South Africa's cultural history in a solo exhibition at the University of Johannesburg's (UJ) FADA Gallery, Abantu: Threads That Bind Us. In this showcase, Mthethwa bridges the past and present – exploring heritage and identity across two levels. The ground floor contains archival materials such as beaded artifacts and embroidered pictures of cultural leaders, while the upper level is for contemporary works, featuring present-day art jewellery to re-staged traditional portraits. "This [exhibition] will offer a reverent encounter with the legacies that have shaped South Africa’s indigenous identity," says Mthethwa.
Until Sun, Apr 6 – Two group exhibitions curated by Kamogelo Walaza show at Berman Contemporary, on the top floor of 223 Creative Hub. Through Form and Meaning invites us to consider the materiality of art not as static, but as a "living extension of the human condition" through a fascinating series of highly tactile works. Meanwhile, Ke Rona (derived from the Sesotho word for 'we are') looks at Afro-surrealism through the medium of photography – comprising a collection of staged and unstaged photographs that tread the line between truth and suggestion.
Photo: 223 Creative Hub.
Until Thu, Apr 17 – We loved seeing Esther Mahlangu's major retrospective Then I Knew I Was Good at Painting at Iziko South African Museum in Cape Town. The solo is now at Wits Art Museum (WAM) for an extended run. Thanks to her marvellous skill and ability to carry her heritage and culture forward, Mahlangu is an icon in the local art world. She has been painting since the age of 10, learning from her mother, grandmother, and women in her hometown of Mthambothini village in Mpumalanga. Colourful and geometric, her work honours the symbolic and visual language of traditional Ndebele art. Mahlangu celebrated her 89th birthday on Nov 11, 2024. Her retrospective exhibition is a survey of her wide-ranging and in-depth work over the years.
