Penny Siopis

Penny Siopis is an honorary professor at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town. A South African artist of Greek descent, her practice spans painting, film/video, and installation. Her work critically engages with themes such as colonialism, apartheid, migration, globalization, madness, and modernity through layered narratives that challenge official historiography. She has exhibited internationally, including participation in major biennales like Sydney, Venice, and Johannesburg. A major retrospective, Time and Again: A Retrospective Exhibition by Penny Siopis, was held in 2014–2015 at the South African National Gallery and Wits Art Museum.

Her films—such as My Lovely Day (1997), Obscure White Messenger (2010), The Master is Drowning (2012), and Communion (2011)—weave archival footage with text and sound to explore traumatic intersections of individual lives and political upheavals. These works blur fact and fiction, employing techniques like fragmented narratives and subverted subtitles to evoke emotional and dreamlike dimensions.