Helena Uambembe
Helena Uambembe (b. 1994, South Africa, lives and works in Berlin) is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice explores the intersections of personal and political histories, tracing the legacies of colonialism, conflict, and migration across South Africa, Angola, and beyond. Drawing on her family’s experience as part of the 32 Battalion of the South African Apartheid Army, Uambembe maps how intimate lives are shaped by broader historical forces.
Uambembe is a recipient of multiple awards including the David Koloane Award, 2019; the Baloise Art Prize, 2022; the Ars Viva Prize, 2024; fellow of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, 2023. Recent solo exhibitions include presentations at the Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt; Kunsthalle Bremen; Haus der Kunst, Munich. Uambembe has exhibited internationally at Art Basel; Rencontres de Bamako; Lagos Biennial; La Biennale de Lubumbashi. She was also part of the public program of the British Pavillion at the 60th Venice Biennale.
I saw you when you watched me die
2025
Installation with sand, fence, plastic flowers, 15 × 8 meters
Courtesy of the artist
The installation establishes both a space and a site. It conjures a distinct atmosphere through carefully chosen materials, shapes, and structures – elements deeply connected to the artist’s upbringing in Pomfret, South Africa. After fleeing Angola’s Civil War, Uambembe’s father served in a South African Defence Force unit composed primarily of Black Angolan men. Military visual languages – their imagery, hierarchies, and codes – strongly influence Uambembe’s artistic vocabulary. Fences, sand, and graveyard-like forms produce an austere environment where the traces of history remain palpable. Rather than locating the work in a specific geography, Uambembe creates a symbolic terrain that prompts reflection on the normalization of militarization, the enduring effects of violence, and the cyclical nature of oppression and its relentless self-perpetuation.