Penny Siopis lives in Cape Town where she is an Honorary Professor at Michaelis School of Fine Art.  In the 1980s, Siopis produced “history paintings” that addressed race and gender representation in public narratives. In the ‘90s, her focus shifted to the workings of memory, when she began making films and monumental installations using found material. In the 2000s, she began experimenting with glue and ink to engage the critical potential of painting focusing on materiality and process. 

Siopis has held solo exhibitions at the Zeitz MOCAA, the Iziko South African National Gallery, the Wits Art Museum and Freud Museum in London. She has participated in numerous international exhibitions, including the biennales of New Orleans, Taipei, Venice, Sydney, Johannesburg, Gwangju, and Havana. Her work is represented in Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Smithsonian Institution, Washington; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Tate Modern, London; and the Art Institute of Chicago.