Born in 1993 in the former military town of Pomfret in North West, Teresa Kutala Firmino, 31, grew up among former Angolan South African National Defence Force families. These early experiences shaped her understanding of identity, history and postcolonial memory. Teresa is an artist and the director of the BNAP Foundation, as well as the founder of the Teresakutalafirmino Studio. Her work is rooted in story-telling through visual art. Using painting to engage with forgotten or misrepresented histories, particularly those of African women, she reimagines the archive as a space of resistance. Her day begins with admin and gallery meetings, while evenings are reserved for creative work in her studio. She holds a master of fine arts from the University of the Witwatersrand. Among her achievements is the internationally exhibited project The Owners of the Earth — a four-part paint- ing series culminating in her first visual book. This work exemplifies her belief that art can build community and challenge historical silence. Teresa supports emerging artists through the Blessing Ngobeni Art Prize. She draws inspiration from the women in her family, whose lives and stories continue to influence her work.

Read the full article here: https://mg.co.za/200youngsouthafricans/2025/teresa-kutala-firmino/

Teresa Kutala Firmino’s fantasy worlds are animated by a decidedly campy materiality. The fulsomely textured surfaces of her collages currently on view at Everard Read’s CIRCA Gallery in Johannesburg are brimming with buttons, stickers, glitter, feathers. Set against brightly polychromed backgrounds, masked female figures are resplendently clothed in fabrics drawn from digital prints—floral dresses, polka dotted bikinis, and geometric skirts. Others wear nothing but their frank nudity, sometimes accentuated by a glittery sheen. At first glance, these painting-collages strike us as Eden-like playgrounds of colorful femininity. But discreetly, they are also somewhat surreptitious elegies for the dead. 

Read the full article here: Teresa Kutala Firmino: The Owners of the Earth (Vissaquelo) – The Brooklyn Rail

Teresa Kutala Firmino, on the occassion of Manifestation Oku Yongola  | Manifestation of Wanting at Everard Read London, is interviewed by Bob Chaundy on an episode of the podcast Considering Art.

Click here to read the hear the full interview

Artists Teresa Kutala Firmino and Blessing Ngobeni draw on their personal experiences to create powerful political work.

Read the full article here: https://www.ft.com/content/65928d5d-b36d-40fa-a238-8156041cc70c 

Blessing Ngobeni and Teresa Kutala Firmino are the subject of an artist profile by Kerri von Geusau on Nataal.

Read the full article here: Double act — nataal.com