Malaika Temba
When you see them give them our greetings (ukiwaona, wake salamu), 2024
Hand silkscreeend fabric, jacquard woven fabric, tarp, felted wool, and Ugandan bark cloth
145 x 170 cm | 57 x 67 in
Malaika Temba
Discover Taste, 2024
Jacquard woven fabric and acrylic paint
140 x 127 cm | 55 x 50 in
Malaika Temba
Sweet Disposition, 2023
Jacquard woven, painted
132 x 180 cm | 52 x 71 in
Malaika Temba
Naomiye, 2024
Jacquard woven, painted
183 x 122 cm | 72 x 48 in
Malaika Temba
Marketi, 2023 - 2024
Jacquard woven, painted
170 x 234 cm | 67 x 92 in
Malaika Temba
Lady in Red, 2023
Wool and Cotton Yarn
173 x 140 cm | 68 x 55 in
Malaika Temba
Marketplace, 2023
Handwoven fabric
328 x 35.5 cm | 129 x 14 in
Malaika Temba
Soko/Souk, 2023
Jacquard woven fabric, pastel, acrylic paint
118 x 152.5 cm | 46 1/2 x 60 in
Framed: 150 x 120 x 2 cm | 59 x 47 x 1 in
Malaika Temba (b. 1996, Washington, D.C., USA) is a Tanzanian-American artist who works with analog and digital weaving techniques to create works that insist on the presence of the human hand. Using layered and collaged imagery and symbols from contemporary media and found images from Tanzania, Temba examines the cultural, historical, and geopolitical contexts she experienced growing up across Saudi Arabia, Uganda, South Africa, Morocco, and the United States. For Temba, making art is a process for understanding the world and distilling history, culture, emotion, and experience into a singular view.
Temba’s work has been featured in solo exhibitions at Lila Ben Sallah, Paris, France; the SOHO House, Miami, FL; Naomi Fassil Gallery, New York, NY; Mindy Soloman Gallery, Miami, FL; and an upcoming solo exhibition at Gaa Gallery, Cologne, Germany. Recent group exhibitions have been held at Mindy Solomon Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Albertz Benda, Los Angeles, CA; Gaa Gallery, New York, NY; Lilia Ben Salah, Paris, France; Allouche Gallery, New York, NY; and The Yard, New York, NY. In 2018 Temba received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and has since been awarded residencies at Silver Art Projects, World Trade Center, New York, NY; the Studios at Mass MoCA, North Adams, MA; the Bandung Residency at MoCADA and A4 Arts Alliance, New York, NY; and the Fountainhead Residency, Miami, FL, among others.
BORN
1996, Washington, D.C., USA
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, USA
EDUCATION
2018
BFA, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, USA
Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
2014
Visual Arts Center Magnet Program, Kensington, MD, USA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
Gaa Projects, Cologne, Germany (Upcoming)
This Bridge Called Our Backs, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, FL, USA
2023
Wild Flowers on Mt. Kilimanjaro, Lilia Ben Sallah, Paris, France
Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues, SOHO House, Miami, FL, USA
Anina Major + Malaika Temba, Art Cologne, Gaa Gallery, Cologne, Germany
2021
Not Yet Uhuru, Naomi Fassil Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Sugarcane is Sweetest at the Joint, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, FL, USA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
A Billion, Brilliant Points of Unity, Fridman Gallery, New York, NY, USA
And Sew It Seams, Toshkova Fine Art Advisory curated by Alexandra Jane, Charlotte, NC, USA
2023
Quaquaversal, Gaa Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Family Style, SITUATIONS, New York, NY, USA
Hand Over Hand: Textiles Today, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, FL, USA
2022
In Moonlight We Turn Blue, STRADA, New York, NY, USA
A Confluence of Coastal Creativity, Mindy Solomon Gallery and Albertz Benda, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Points and Positions of View (Parts Pris et Points de Vue), Lilia Ben Salah, Paris, France
Culture, STRADA, New York, NY, USA
2021
Operation Varsity Blues, Allouche Gallery, curated by Charles Moore, New York, NY, USA
Loom, Longing, The Yard, New York, NY, USA
2018
Education as a Practice of Freedom, curated by Jasmine Wahi, Miami, FL, USA
String Theory, Woods Gerry Gallery, RI, USA
The Sweeter the Juice, Benson Gallery, RI, USA
2017
Mutual Encounters, Gelman Gallery, RISD Museum, Providence, RI, USA
2016
Octo, Sound Arts Performance, RI, USA
For Adams: Drawing Parallels, Listening for Echoes, RI, USA
AWARDS, GRANTS, AND FELLOWSHIPS
2025
Textile Art Center: Artist in Residence, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2024
Silver Art Projects: Artist in Residence, New York, NY, USA
Bandung Residency Extension, A4 Arts Alliance and Mocada, NY, USA
2023
Studios at Mass MoCA, Artist in Residence, North Adams, MA, USA
Bandung Residency, MoCADA + A4 Arts Alliance, New York, NY, USA
2022
School for Poetic Computation, Dark Matters Class
2021
Jorge M Perez Award
Silver Art Projects Residency, NY, USA
2020
Fountainhead Residency, FL, USA
2018
Warren Family Social Engagement Award
RISD Textile Department Alumni Fellowship
2014
US Presidential School of the Arts: Semi-Finalist
Haimovicz Award, MD, USA
YoungArts Foundation: National Winner Visual Arts
SELECTED PRESS + PUBLICATIONS
2023
Wonderland Magazine Cover, Head of State x Malaika Temba for Kaytranada
“Malaika Temba, Les Feux Du Mont Kilimandjaro,” Point Contemporain, May
Wayneguite, Jacqueline, “Top 5 Booths at Expo Chicago 2023,” Newcity Art, April
2022
“Malaika Temba Speaks On Her Journey Into The Art World,” Voice of America (VOA) TV News
2021
“Next Big Things: Malaika Temba,” Galerie Magazine, December
Francischine, Tyler, “Malaika Temba’s Textile Works Exhibit a Reverence for the Process,” Miami New Times, June
“On Its 40th Anniversary, YoungArts Is Just Getting Started,” Cultured Magazine, November
Duran, Jose D., “‘Operation Varsity Blues’ at Allouche Gallery Operation Varsity Blues Catalog,” Surface Design Magazine, June 9
2018
“Whitewaller Miami 2018: What to See,” Whitewaller Magazine, December 3
SPECIAL PROJECTS
2020
“Sue Me” Wale Music Video, Graphic Design
BLM Community Print Event
2019
Jay-Z’s made in America Festival, Merchandise Design
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
N’Namdi Collection, Miami, FL, USA
The Bunker Artspace, Palm Beach, FL, USA
El Espacio 23, collection of Jorge M. Pérez, Miami, FL, USA
Selig Sacks (of American Folk Art Museum), New York, NY, USA
Basil Kincaid, Personal Collection
Michael Sherman (of Hammer Museum, Baltimore Museum of Art), Personal Collection
