Cathy Abraham
(b. 1968 in Cape Town, South Africa)

Cathy Abraham completed her MFA with Distinction in 2018 at Michaelis School of Fine Arts, University of Cape Town. This culminated in a solo exhibition titled, A Deeper Kind of Nothing. She works in film, mixed media, installation, painting and sculpture though her choice of media is primarily informed by her subject matter.

Abraham works systematically with repetitive gestures as a way of thinking through the patterns and traumas that mark our daily existence. The highly developed surfaces of her works consider boundaries between reality, fantasy and illusion.

She lives and works in Cape Town.

Solo Exhibitions

2022 Cubicle series, Evererard Read gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2021 Featured artist Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa

2021 The abyss of deep time, The Fourth, Cape Town, South Africa

2019 A Deeper Kind of Nothing and The Monument, Gallery Glen Carlou

2018 A Deeper Kind of Nothing, Michaelis Galleries, Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.

2013 Undying Entanglement, South African Jewish Museum, Cape Town, South Africa.

2012 Trace, In Toto Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa.

2011 Essence, The White House, Plettenberg Bay, South Africa.

2010 Memory Stains, IBI Art Alliance Francaise, Johannesburg, South Africa.

2009 Stripped, IBI Art Alliance Francaise, Johannesburg, South Africa.

2008 Naked, Joao Ferreira Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa.

Selected Group Exhibitions

2023 Summer Exhibition, Everard Read London, UK

2021 Dining with ghosts at House Party, The Fourth, Cape Town

2021 Winter show, Gallery Gallery, Stanley Rd, Johannesburg

2019 Conversations with Irma, Irma Stern Museum, curated by Christopher Peter

2016 The Shape of Nothing, Michaelis Graduate Show, Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa. The Spirit of Stern, curated by Michael Chandler, Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town, South Africa. The Space Between, curated by Mari Macdonald, South African Jewish Museum, Cape Town, South Africa.

2015 Art/Out of the Ordinary, curated by Marilyn Martin, Association of Visual Arts (AVA), Cape Town, South Africa. Art on Paper VI, curated by Cheryl Rumbak, Kalk Bay Modern, Cape Town, South Africa.

2014 Seeking Eden, curated by Margie Murgatroyd, Casa Labia, Cape Town, South Africa.

2013 My Mother’s Garden, Arts on Main, Johannesburg, South Africa. In Good Company, curated by Michael Chandler, Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town, South Africa.

2011 Domestic Departures, The Forge, Cape Town, South Africa.

2009 The Great South African Nude, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa. Spring Art Fair, SMAC Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa.

Press & Publications

Speakes, O. 2020. Breathing Space: Cathy Abraham’s A Deeper Kind of Nothing. Artthrob https://artthrob.co.za/2020/01/07/breathing-space-cathy-abrahams-a-deeper-kind-of-nothing/

Cape Talk Radio interview with Pippa Hudson http://www.capetalk.co.za/podcasts/127/afternoons-with-pippa-hudson/254287/on-the-couch-cathy-abraham-responds-to-gender-based-violence-with-visual-art

Jolly, L. 2013. Complete Immersion: Honouring opposite but entangled forces of feminism through art. Cape Times. 2 October: 11.

Teaching 2017 – 2018 assisted Virginia Mackenny professor of painting at Michaelis School of Fine Art, UCT