Ivy Rihlampfu is one of our 2024-2025 Curatorial Fellowship Recipients

The ARAK Collection is thrilled to announce that Ivy Rihlampfu is one of the recipients of our Curatorial Fellowships for 2024-2025.

Rihlampfu is a South African visual artist, and curator with a B-Tech in Fine Art. Born and raised in Soweto, Rihlampfu developed a deep appreciation for art from a young age. Inspired by the vibrant street art scene in her hometown, she began exploring different mediums and styles of artistic expression, ultimately finding her calling in the world of art and curation and she dove headfirst into the world.

Within her curatorial work, Rihlampfu is deeply engaged in exploring themes of place, self, migration and progress. She actively seeks out opportunities to amplify diverse voices within the art world. Ivy is a passionate advocate for arts education, community engagement for normalizing buying art without intimidation. She believes in the power of art to inspire change and is dedicated to using her platform to amplify underrepresented voices and spark meaningful conversations using art as a catalyst.

As a young curator, Rihlampfu is excited to continue pushing the boundaries of contemporary art and to champion the next generation of artistic talent. She is committed to creating inclusive spaces where artists and audiences can come together to engage with art in new and meaningful ways, and she is determined to make a lasting impact on the cultural landscape of her community and beyond.

Rihlampfu has worked with a number of institutions, corporations, organisations and galleries including Goethe-Institute, The Worldbank, The Riboville Boutique Hotel, Springs Art Gallery, The Business Clinic, Constitution Hill, The Soweto Arts Company, Asisebenze Art Atelier and the Keyes Art Mile. She also curated solo exhibitions for prominent artists that were exhibited at Turbine Art Fair 2022/23 and The Investec Cape Town Art Fair in 2023.

Rihlampfu’s current focus for the ARAK Fellowship is on the intersections and collapses of portraiture and abstraction. She has been drawing on various African artists and artworks from the ARAK Collection in order to further explore this relationship. 

We look forward to Rihlampfu’s further engagement with the collection and her subsequent reflections and outputs. 

About the ARAK Collection Curatorial Fellowship programme:

We invite curators to research the Collection, offering an opportunity to curate exhibitions that highlight contemporary African art. Fellows are supported from concept development to the final staging of their exhibitions, culminating in a meaningful contribution to art discourse.

The Curatorial Fellow is expected to research the collection with the intention of curating an exhibition and writing the exhibition catalogue at the end of the residency. After in-depth research, a curatorial project is submitted to be approved by the ARAK Collection Advisory Committee.

The Fellowship Program was created to support the ARAK Collection’s Mission of developing and supporting young and mid-career artists, curators and writers through promoting curatorial research, publications and exhibitions of the Collection’s works. The exhibitions, developed and produced by the ARAK Collection, aspire to be impactful on a global scale and are all associated with relevant public programming.

The Fellowship Program was created to support the ARAK Collection’s mission of developing and supporting young and mid-career artists, curators, and writers by promoting curatorial research, publications, and exhibitions of the Collection’s works. The exhibitions, developed and produced by the ARAK Collection, aspire to be impactful on a global scale and are all associated with relevant public programming.

About the ARAK Collection:

The ARAK Collection is an independent, Qatari-based initiative that aims to promote, through exhibitions, publications, research and educational programs, Contemporary  African Art and Artists.

The collection is a resource for Artists, Curators and Researchers. It presents travelling exhibitions, lends artwork to regional and international organisations, institutions and museums, and produces print and online publications, and impactful public programs associated with the exhibitions it produces and hosts. The ARAK Collection is a public platform to foster critical dialogue around contemporary art practices with a focus on African Artists and educational programmes that have an educational and developmental impact on the local community.

The collection consists of paintings, works on paper, and prints from more than 300 young and mid-career artists from African countries.

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