Mandlenkosi Mavengere

About the Artist

Mavengere's work combines printing and painting, with signature linocut banknotes — most notably Zimbabwe's 25 billion dollar note — forming a visual framework for conversations about migration, economic collapse, and labour. The directional lines in the banknotes depict population displacement and scattering, while the repetition of patterns symbolises the systemic forces driving migration, and the near-illegible phrase "I Promise To Pay The Bearer On Demand" haunts each composition.

Born in 1992 in Bulawayo, Mavengere trained at the Artist Proof Studio in Johannesburg before completing a one-year internship and mentorship at William Kentridge's studio in 2017 — a formative experience that expanded his practice from etchings into sculpture and prominent linocut work. He represents the generation of Zimbabweans who lived through hyperinflation, using currency itself — the symbol of his country's economic collapse — as both medium and message.

Based In

Johannesburg, South Africa (originally Bulawayo, Zimbabwe)

Medium

Linocut printmaking; painting; mixed media

Discipline

Printmaking-led painting practice

Themes

Migration, currency collapse and hyperinflation, labour, identity, socio-economic displacement

Notable Exhibitions

William Kentridge Studio internship (2017); Belgium Art Fair (2019); collections include the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and Minerals Council South Africa; works carried by David Krut Projects and The Travelling Art Gallery