Celebrated internationally for fabric constructions with hand embroidery and collage, Amita Makan infuses her work with identity, memory and history by using vintage saris, and intuits the contemporary by integrating found materials – the detritus of plastic that pollutes our environment.
Amita Makan was born in South End, Port Elizabeth, currently lives and works in Pretoria, South Africa, and has produced four solo exhibitions to date: Āvāhana – Invocation (Oliewenhuis National Museum, Bloemfontein 2021), Vasant (Galerie Rosa Turetsky, Geneva, 2016), Nomalungelo: Threads To Freedom (Constitution Hill, Johannesburg, 2014), and Evanescence (KZNSA, Durban, 2011). Selected international group exhibitions include Geneva Art Fair (2019, 2018, 2017), Aqua (presented by the ART For The World, Lake Maggiore, 2018), A New Humanity (Dakar Biennale, Dakar, 2018) and Imago Mundi – Bennetton Foundation (Treviso, Rome, Venice Biennale, Pratt Institute of Brooklyn and the United Nations, New York, 2015).
The artist has been awarded residencies at the Cité International des Arts (Paris, 2014) and the Chowmahalla Palace (Hyderabad, 2010), and works are housed in collections of the Art Bank of South Africa, Robert Sobukwe Museum, University of South Africa, University of Pretoria, Edoardo Villa Museum, South African Reserve Bank, Durban International Convention Centre, Luciano Benetton Foundation and the Chowmahalla Palace Collection.
https://www.art.co.za/amitamakan/about.php