Ending 7th Jun, 2026 16:00
Olympia Timed: Modern and Contemporary African and Middle Eastern Art 2026
331
MAPULA EMBROIDERY PROJECT (SOUTH AFRICAN EST. 1991)
UNTITLED (RURAL SCENE)
embroidered wool on cloth
65.3 x 105cm; 25 5/8 x 41 3/8in
unframed
Property from a Private Collection, London
The Mapula Embroidery Project was established in 1991 in the Winterveld, a peri-urban settlement approximately seventy kilometres north-west of Pretoria, by Soroptimists International Pretoria in collaboration with the Sisters of Mercy and the University of South Africa. Its name, derived from the Tswana for "Mother of Rain", evokes the renewal and hope the project sought to cultivate in a community that had been forcibly relocated and marginalised under apartheid, where language barriers excluded many residents from the formal economy. Over more than three decades, the project has grown into a cooperative of approximately 150 women who create large-scale embroideries in brightly coloured wool on cloth, with complete autonomy over their designs and colour choices. The resulting works weave personal memory and lived experience with public history and social commentary, forming a unique and vital archive of South African women's experience. Their work has been collected internationally and presented at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC in 1999, and works were gifted to Queen Elizabeth II during her 1999 South Africa visit.
Sold for £150
UNTITLED (RURAL SCENE)
embroidered wool on cloth
65.3 x 105cm; 25 5/8 x 41 3/8in
unframed
Property from a Private Collection, London
The Mapula Embroidery Project was established in 1991 in the Winterveld, a peri-urban settlement approximately seventy kilometres north-west of Pretoria, by Soroptimists International Pretoria in collaboration with the Sisters of Mercy and the University of South Africa. Its name, derived from the Tswana for "Mother of Rain", evokes the renewal and hope the project sought to cultivate in a community that had been forcibly relocated and marginalised under apartheid, where language barriers excluded many residents from the formal economy. Over more than three decades, the project has grown into a cooperative of approximately 150 women who create large-scale embroideries in brightly coloured wool on cloth, with complete autonomy over their designs and colour choices. The resulting works weave personal memory and lived experience with public history and social commentary, forming a unique and vital archive of South African women's experience. Their work has been collected internationally and presented at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC in 1999, and works were gifted to Queen Elizabeth II during her 1999 South Africa visit.
Auction: Olympia Timed: Modern and Contemporary African and Middle Eastern Art 2026, ending 7th Jun, 2026
If you want to start collecting striking modern and contemporary art in a newly developing market, our sales are for you. Each spring and autumn, the Modern and Contemporary African and Middle Eastern Department hold tightly curated, live and online auctions. Expect to find Arab artists such as Rabab Nemr, Ahmed Farid, Seif Wanly and Fateh Moudarres. African artists featured have ranged from modern masters such as Ablade Glover, Sam Ntiro and Jacob Hendrik Pierneef, to contemporary artists George Lilanga, Jilali Gharbaoui, Famakan Magassa, Christano Mangovo, Oluwole Omofemi, Esther Mahlangu and Brett Seiler.
