Kapwani Kiwanga (b. Hamilton, Canada) is a French and Canadian artist.

Kiwanga’s work traces the pervasive impact of power asymmetries by placing historic narratives in dialogue with contemporary realities, the archive, and tomorrow’s possibilities.

Her work is research-driven, instigated by marginalised or forgotten histories, and articulated across a range of materials and mediums including sculpture, installation, photography, video, and performance.

Kiwanga co-opts the canon; she turns systems of power back on themselves, in art and in parsing broader histories. In this manner Kiwanga has developed an aesthetic vocabulary that she described as “exit strategies,” works that invite one to see through multiple perspectives so as to look differently at existing structures and imagine ways to navigate the future differently.

Solo Exhibitions (selection) + –

  • Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona (ES), 2026

  • Copenhagen Contemporary (DK), 2024

  • Serralves Foundation, Porto (PT), 2023

  • Bozar, Brussels (BE), 2023

  • Remai Modern, Saskatoon (CA), 2023

  • Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg (DE), 2023

  • Capc, Bordeaux (FR), 2023

  • MOCA, Toronto (CA), 2023

  • Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich (CH), 2022

  • New Museum, New York (USA), 2022

  • Moody Center for the Arts, Houston (USA), 2021

  • Haus der Kunst, Munich (DE), 2020

  • Kunsthaus Centre d’art Pasquart, Biel/Bienne (CH), 2020

  • MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge (USA), 2019

  • Esker Foundation, Calgary (CA), 2018

  • Power Plant, Toronto (CA), 2017

  • Logan Center for the Arts, Chicago (USA), 2017

  • South London Gallery, London (UK), 2015

  • Jeu de Paume, Paris (FR), 2014

Awards / Fellowships (selection) + –

  • Joan Miró Prize (ES), 2025

  • the Guggenheim Fellowship (USA and Canada), 2023

  • the Elizabeth S. and Richard M. Cashin Fellowship at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, Cambridge (USA), 2022–2023

  • the Zurich Art Prize (CH), 2022

  • the Marcel Duchamp Prize (FR), 2020

  • the Frieze Artist Award (USA), 2018

  • the Sobey Art Award (CA) both 2018

Biennal Participations (selection) + –

  • 25th Biennale of Sydney (AU), 2026

  • Hawai’i Triennial (USA), 2025

  • Singapore Biennale (SG), 2025

  • 60th Venice Biennale with her project Trinket, 2024

  • 35th Bienal de São Paulo (BR), 2023

  • 59th Venice Biennale (IT), 2022

Site-specific and Public Commissions (selection) + –

  • Grand Paris, Gare Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 2 TGV, Roissy (FR), forthcoming

  • Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (USA), 2026

  • Desert X, Palm Springs, California (USA), 2025

  • High Line, New York (USA), 2023

  • Public Matters, Belvedere 21, Vienna (AT), 2023

  • Imagine the City, Hamburg (DE), 2021