Billie Zangewa Blantyre, Malawi, b. 1973

Born in Blantyre, Malawi, in 1973, Billie Zangewa studied Fine Arts at Rhodes University in South Africa, graduating in 1995. She has lived in Johannesburg since then.

She works primarily with fragments of wild silk, which she assembles into intricate hand‑stitched collages, creating figurative compositions. In her images, Zangewa challenges historical stereotypes by drawing inspiration from scenes of contemporary life, blending her personal experience with the universal.

Zangewa is represented by prestigious galleries such as Lehmann Maupin and Templon, and her work can be found in several public and private collections, including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, the Johannesburg Art Gallery in South Africa, the JP Morgan Chase Art Collection in New York, and Tate Modern in London.