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

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Featured work: Svea Josephy, Towers, 2018

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

02.10.25 - 13.11.24

Cities of the Future - In the Past

Svea Josephy

Horizons Unbound

Suzanne Leighton

Meeting Point

Davina de Beer

The Gods Must Be Crazy

Tshepo Sizwe Phokojoe | Curated by Mzoxolo Vimba

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.

LEARN MORE

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:

A BEAST WITH TWO BACKS

Group show | Curated by Grace Matetoa and Keely Shinners

Tell me about a day you don’t remember

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

Nanna’s Kitchen

Aaron Philander

Unite Jeannette, Sine qua none, Copper, 2024.jpg

GEOMATICS: LAND | LAW | ORE

Jeannette Unite

Temperamental

Group show | Curated by Chloé de Villiers

Hoogervorst, Karoo Landscape 7, 2025, Oil on Canvas, 19 x 24cm LR.jpg

FROZEN TALES

Group Show | Curated by Sonia Martins Mateus

CURRENTS

Group Show | Organised by Thebe Phetogo

A Collection to a Degree

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

Keiskamma Artists in Profile

Group show | Curated by Michaela Howse and Cebo Mvubu

The SADC* Biennale

Raul Jorge Gourgel & Rory Tsapayi

Watching the Sky Fall

Dale Washkansky

THE PROMISE

Nando’s Creative Exchange | Spier Arts Trust

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Fragmented Realities: An Algorithmic Lens

Kathy Robins

Imiyalezo, Oil on canvas, 150x200cm, 2024.jpg

Umngqwambo

Thembeka Heidi Sincuba

DID YOU HEAR THAT SOUND?

Boytchie

Fabrics of Society

Curated by Nani Mntonintshi

Time As Method

Catriona Towriss

Elsewhere or Apprentice

Clara van Or

Clare Menck - Touching a nurse shark.jpg

For(Sea)Change

The Printing Girls

JOURNAL:

After the Anthropocene: Stefan Raubenheimer’s Remember This Land

ArtThrob Student Review by Drew Haller

Squarespace Journal announcement circle sized.png

Notice of 2025 AGM

Wednesday 12 November | 6pm

Adelheid Frackiewicz, Down the Line, 2025Adelheid Frackiewicz, Down the Line, 2025 detail 2.jpg

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

ArtThrob Student Review by Tara Hall

In conversation with Keely Shinners

Writer, editor, curator & performer

In conversation with Vida Madighi-Oghu

Visual artist, writer, and curator

Call for Board Member Nominations (CLOSED)

2025 AGM

In conversation with Sean O’Toole

Writer, editor and curator

Apply: Art Writing Workshop (CLOSED)

Hosted by Keely Shinners

In conversation with Bonolo Kavula

Visual Artist

In conversation with Vusumzi Nkomo

Visual Artist and educator

2025 HEAT Winter Arts Festival

6 - 16 August

In conversation with Igshaan Adams

Visual Artist

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

ArtThrob Review by Emily Freedman

In conversation with Olga Speakes

AVA Director

Call for Internships (CLOSED)

Gallery Assistant

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.

Posting on behalf of Henrike Grohs Art Award:

Applications for the 2026 Henrike Grohs Art Award are now open!

Set to launch for its final year, the Henrike Grohs Art Award is a biennial pan-African art prize which is endowed with 20 000 Euro. Conce

Notice of the 2025 AGM

The AVA’s 2025 annual general meeting will be held on Wednesday 12 November at 6pm at the AVA Gallery, 35 Church St, Cape Town CBD.

Please visit our website for the full notice, including the agenda, all relevant docume

We’re incredibly proud that two works from past AVA exhibitions have been acquired by the Iziko South African National Gallery for the reopening of the Iziko Old Town House Museum and the Michaelis Collections Re-Imagined. @izikomuseumssa @izik

Walkabout
Monday 13 October
1pm

Join us during your lunch hour next Monday for an artist walkabout of The Gods Must Be Crazy by Tshepo Sizwe Phokojoe @tshepo_phokojoe

The Gods Must Be Crazy is an ode to ancestry and origin. The exhibition interl

$ArtThrob Review What Remains: Adelheid Frackiewicz’s ‘Drawing the Line’ at AVA Gallery by Tara Hall @taraxhall @artthrobcoza @adelheidfrackiewicz “That ambivalence, that balance between reverence and repulsion, is what keeps$

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