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

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Featured work: Suzanne Leighton, Namibia Coast, 2024

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

02.10.25 - 13.11.24
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Cities of the Future - In the Past

Svea Josephy

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Horizons Unbound

Suzanne Leighton

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Meeting Point

Davina de Beer

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The Gods Must Be Crazy

Tshepo Sizwe Phokojoe | Curated by Mzoxolo Vimba

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS

Opening Thursday 20 November | 5pm - 8pm
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Try a Little Tenderness

Hannah Macfarlane and Amber Alcock

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Do You Know the Place?

Aimee Lindeque

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Who is King? And What Do I Know?

Gill Allderman

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Everything is White

Luciano Luz

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.

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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?

Alka Dass and Kamyar Bineshtarigh, Kamyar in the Crack, 2024 Cyanotype

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

Aaron Philander, PA’s morning paper, 2025

Nina Turok Shapiro, Familial Relation I, 2025

EXPLORE
PAST EXHIBITIONS:
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Drawing the Line by Adelheid Frackiewicz

Absa L'Atelier Ambassador

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Transposing an Echo: Reimagining Oral Setswana Poetry through Digital Intervention

Tebogo Boikanyo Matshana

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Remember This Land

Stefan Raubenheimer

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A Home Called Vogue

Yazeed Kamaldien

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A BEAST WITH TWO BACKS

Group show | Curated by Grace Matetoa and Keely Shinners

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Reflections of a Queen

Kganya Mogashoa

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Tell me about a day you don’t remember

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

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Nanna’s Kitchen

Aaron Philander

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GEOMATICS: LAND | LAW | ORE

Jeannette Unite

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Temperamental

Group show | Curated by Chloé de Villiers

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FROZEN TALES

Group Show | Curated by Sonia Martins Mateus

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CURRENTS

Group Show | Organised by Thebe Phetogo

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A Collection to a Degree

Jean-Claude Nsabimana | Rory Emmett | Nobukho Nqaba | Ulriche Jantjes

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Keiskamma Artists in Profile

Group show | Curated by Michaela Howse and Cebo Mvubu

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The SADC* Biennale

Raul Jorge Gourgel & Rory Tsapayi

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Watching the Sky Fall

Dale Washkansky

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THE PROMISE

Nando’s Creative Exchange | Spier Arts Trust

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Fragmented Realities: An Algorithmic Lens

Kathy Robins

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Umngqwambo

Thembeka Heidi Sincuba

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JOURNAL:
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Opening: Tales of History Retold at The lyatsiba Lab

Curated by Kim Gurney & Carlyn Strydom

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Recalling: Reflections of a Queen at AVA Gallery

ArtThrob Student Review by Ellen Augustyn 

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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

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

ArtThrob Student Review by Tara Hall 

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In conversation with Keely Shinners

Writer, editor, curator & performer

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In conversation with Vida Madighi-Oghu

Visual artist, writer, and curator

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Call for Board Member Nominations (CLOSED)

2025 AGM

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In conversation with Sean O’Toole

Writer, editor and curator

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Apply: Art Writing Workshop (CLOSED)

Hosted by Keely Shinners

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In conversation with Bonolo Kavula

Visual Artist

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In conversation with Vusumzi Nkomo

Visual Artist and educator

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2025 HEAT Winter Arts Festival

6 - 16 August

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In conversation with Igshaan Adams

Visual Artist

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Making & Remembering: Aaron Philander’s ‘Nanna’s Kitchen’

ArtThrob Review by Emily Freedman 

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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.

Mark your calendar for the opening of Tales of History Retold at The lyatsiba Lab on Wednesday, 5 November 2025, at 5:30 pm For this exhibition, eight artists were invited to select artefactsdocume from AVA’s archive as source material for an
Artist Walkabout Saturday 25 October 11am We look forward to welcoming you tomorrow morning for a walkabout with Svea Joseph as she talks us through her current exhibition, Cities of the Future in the Past. We’ve teamed up with Heaven Coffee
Artists Walkabout Saturday 25 October 2025 | 11 am Join us this Saturday for an engaging walkabout of Cities of the Future in the Past, a solo exhibition by Svea Josephy @svea.josephy This event marks the launch of Inner City Saturdays, a program
Currently on View: Meeting Point, a solo exhibition by Davina de Beer @davinadebeer Front Gallery: 02.10.25 - 13.11.25 In Meeting Point, Davina de Beer explores the convergence of thread and paint as ways through which unexpected connections eme
ArtThrob Student Review After the Anthropocene: Stefan Raubenheimer’s ‘Remember This Land’ at AVA Gallery by Drew Haller @drewkendallhaller @stefanraubenheimer @artthrobcoza “Remember this Land exists in memoriam of the land

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.

The AVA is generously supported by its Donors and Sponsors