SANELL AGGENBACH

(b. 1975 Cape Town, South Africa)

Sanell Aggenbach’s work deals primarily with the intersection of history and private narratives by considering the process of recall and interpretation. Her work displays an accomplished virtuosity as she moves comfortably between the various disciplines of painting, printmaking and sculpture.

Since 2003, Aggenbach has focused mainly on subverted feminine tropes and feminist themes. In recent paintings, she subtly and mischievously reframes the hobbyist art of flower arranging by appropriating the traditionally masculine art of Japanese Ikebana. Her sculptural work, primarily in bronze, parodies Western masterpieces from Michelangelo to Henry Moore and Warhol to Pierneef, and takes a refreshing look at these pivotal references from a woman’s perspective.

Born in Cape Town in 1975, Aggenbach currently lives in Cape Town. Her explorative work has secured her many achievements including winning the  Absa L’Atelier Award in 2003. Her work is represented in numerous public and private collections, including Sasol, Absa, Spier, SABC, Red Bull (Austria), the South African National Gallery, 21C Museum in Kentucky (USA) and Anglo Gold.

“My earlier works relied heavily on processing found imagery, rethinking associations and creating new fictions. These works were often an amalgamation of historic references with private narratives and forms part of a process of investigating pathologies and deconstructing the past. My primary intention is to construct subtle paradoxes by introducing a quite humour, either formally or materially.”

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2025

SOLO, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2023

Nightshade, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town, South Africa

2021

The Great Lulllllll, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town, South Africa

2019

The Heart Has Many Rooms, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

2017

Bend to Her Will, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Johannesburg & Cape Town, South Africa

2015

Atopia, NWU Gallery, Potchefstroom, South Africa

2013

Famila Obscura, Brundyn+, Cape Town, South Africa

2011

Some Dance to Remember Some Dance to Forget, Blank Projects, Cape Town, South Africa

2009

Graceland, Gallery AOP, Johannesburg, South Africa

2008

Sub Rosa, Joäo Ferreira Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2007

Perfectly Still, ABSA Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

2006

Blues and Greys, Art on Paper Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

2005

Hoogwater/High Tide, KKNK, Oudtshoorn, South Africa

Fools Gold, Bell Roberts Contemporary, Cape Town, South Africa

2003

Blank, AVA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2001

From a Netherworld, Bell-Roberts Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2000

Northern Ladies, Art Konsult, New Delhi, India

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024    

The Night, Mario Mauroner Contemporary Art Salzburg, Austria.

2023

What I Feel When I Think About The Cosmos, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

The Other’s Warmth, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

Bitches Brew, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

If you look hard enough, you can see our future, African American Museum, Dallas, USA

2022

Seeds of the Fig, WHATIFTHEWORLD X Krone, Tulbagh, South Africa

3D in 2022, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

2021

Myths, Masters, Monsters & Masterpieces, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

Between Strangers, Nuweland Gallery, Netherlands

RESTUDIO, Cunningham Contemporary, Johannesburg, South Africa

House Party, The Fourth, Cape Town, South Africa 

Offering, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

2020

In Conversation, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

On Being, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

Against Interpretation?, Everard Read, London, UK

Us, online exhibition, Everard Read, South African & UK

2019

MERDELAMERDELAMERDELAMERDELAMERDELAMER, curated by Kendell Geers, Mario Mauroner Contemporary Art, Vienna, Austria

2018

In the Forests of the Night, Everard Read, Johannesburg South Africa

2017

Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa

The Future is Female, 21C Museum Hotels, Louisville, USA

2016

Nano, Barnard Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

Transformation, Southern Guild, Cape Town, South Africa

2015

Foreign Bodie, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town, South Africa

2014

20 Years of Democracy, Appalachian State University, North Carolina, USA

2012

Paint I, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

Seeing Eye, Brundyn +, Cape Town, South Africa

Positive Tension, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town, South Africa

2011

Alptraum, Deutscher Künstlerbund, Berlin, Germany

2010

Twenty, Contemporary Public Sculpture, Nirox, Johannesburg, South Africa

2006

20 Artists06, Contemporary Printing, Bell-Roberts Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2005

Sweet Nothings, New Photographic Work, Bell-Roberts, Cape Town, South Africa

2004

2nd Spier Outdoor Sculpture Biennial, Stellenbosch, South Africa

40 Years, University of Stellenbosch, Sasol Art Museum, South Africa

2003

ABSA L'Atelier, Johannesburg, South Africa

YDESIRE, Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town, South Africa

Brett Kebble Art Awards, Cape Town, South Africa

Picnic, Bell-Roberts Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2002

Spier Outdoor Sculpture Biennial, Jan Marais Nature Reserve, Stellenbosch, South Africa

2001

Aarsel/Waver, KKNK, Oudtshoorn, South Africa

Micro/Macro, South African Printmakers at Xchanges Gallery, Victoria, Canada

OTHER

2015 Aardklop Festival artist 

2009 Ampersand fellowship, New York

2005 Curator: ‘Sweet Nothings’, Bell-Roberts Gallery, Cape Town

2005 Nominated for a Kanna Award, KKNK

2003 Winner of the 2003 ABSA L’Atelier 

1999 Selected for the UNESCO-Aschberg Residency programme, Sanskriti Kendra, New Delhi, India

PERMANENT COLLECTIONS

Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town
Absa Collection
Anglo Gold South Africa
Hollard Collection
Sasol Collection
Spier Collection
Didata
SABC
Labour 24 Pty Ltd
Red Bull Collection, Salzburg, Austria
New Church Museum
21C Museum in Kentucky, USA