About Penny Siopis

Born 1953, Vryburg, South Africa

Penny Siopis is one of South Africa’s most influential contemporary artists, celebrated for her multidisciplinary practice spanning painting, film, photography, and installation. Born to Greek parents in South Africa, her dual heritage has shaped a deep engagement with themes of displacement, memory, and historical reckoning. Her work often navigates the intersections of personal and collective narratives, reflecting on migration, identity, and the fragile boundaries of belonging.

In her Liquid Paintings, Siopis embraces the unpredictable nature of ink, glue, and water, allowing the materials to pool, stain, and dissolve into dreamlike compositions. These works resist fixed interpretations, evoking the impermanence of memory and emotion. This openness to chance and transformation is central to what she describes as the poetics of vulnerability - a concept that underpins her broader practice.

Siopis’ work has been exhibited extensively worldwide, including her first European retrospective, For Dear Life, which was held at the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST) in Athens and concluded in February 2025. She has participated in major biennials such as Venice, Sydney, Gwangju, and Taipei, and her work is held in leading collections, including Tate Modern (London), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Moderna Museet (Stockholm), and the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art (Washington, DC).