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Born in Eastern Cape, ZA

Lives & works in and around South Africa

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Linathi Makanda is a multidisciplinary artist.

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She is the author of the poetry collections When No One Is Watching  and I Say These Things To Myself, and has been featured on Mental Realness Magazine, Forgotten Lands, Poetry Potion, Lolwe and 20.35 Africa, where she was a part of their New Poet Series. New Plains Review, an online publication of the College of Liberal Arts of the University of Central Oklahoma, featured her visual, Seasons, which combines elements of art direction, poetry, and videography. Additionally, this body of work was selected to screen at the Lift Off Online Film Festival in the United Kingdom under the Short Film category. Among the platforms she has appeared on are Nataal Media, The Luupe, Hear My Voice, Drum Magazine, Salamander Ink Mag and Busboys and Poets. In 2022, Makanda was a part of the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal's Poetry Africa Festival. She is also the Senior Editorial Writer at California based publication ColorBloc Magazine, where she has worked with artists such as Kah-Lo, Muzi, Nikiwe Dlova, and others.

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As an emerging artist born in the small town of Mthatha, Eastern Cape, Linathi has followed her passion for art intuitevly, and she continues to wish to share her perspective on the world through her art.

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At the heart of Makanda's work is a strong sense of vulnerability and the exploration of an echoing call to return to oneself. Her interests in photography include Portraiture, Still Life, and Fine Art photography, and she strives to make other reflect as well as reimagine stories and narratives.

 

Publications such as Vogue Italia have recognised Linathi Makanda’s photographic works, as well as the Saginaw Valley State University art journal Cardinal Sins. Makanda is a member of the global Black Women Photographers community. Her work was also included in the online group exhibition Photo for Non-majors (Part 2), curated by Roula Seikaly and Jon Feinstein for the Humble Arts Foundation.

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The image titled Home As iLali (II) from Makanda's ongoing project Imagining Home was featured in the show Undisclosed Resource: Horror Show, organised by Local Host Gallery and is being digitally hosted in the archive. Works from this project were also showcased in the Black Is Magazine exhibition Representation In Relation To Race, curated by Lia Latty at Maryland Institute College of Art. Makanda's portrait titled Age As Resilience is currently part of the I Am Here: Home Movies and Everyday Masterpieces exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario, as part of a digital collage that is an extension of the 2021 Portraits of Resilience exhibition. As part of The Gallery by MUI's 2022 Women's History Month exhibition In Spring, Linathi's creative endeavours were spotlighted for embodying the themes of the exhibit: growth, identity, and change. In June 2022, Makanda’s artwork Home As Usapho (II) was exhibited in London as part of We Are Sweet Art’s 10 year showcase titled Significant Others.  

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Makanda continues to earnestly work on her crafts and hopes to learn more.

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