Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery: PASSION FLOWER, Kimathi Mafafo

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Vernissage: Wednesday, June 3rd 2026 | 6-8pm

A woman wrapped in golden embroidered cloth and beads, her hair whipped across her face, sits beneath an arch of verdant leaves and blooming flowers. The night sky behind her twinkles with stars, her skin glistens in the moonlight. 

Passion Flower is South African artist Kimathi Mafafo‘s solo exhibition at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Berlin. It explores nature not just as a physical space, but as an embodied experience. This experience is shaped by sensation, connection, and care.

The show’s title references a specific species of tropical flower. This flower is depicted in the works. The artist’s late grandmother first introduced it to her for its calming and restorative properties. The flower’s name and form are also symbolic to Mafafo of a heightened bodily and emotional awareness.

an otherworldly, almost cosmic presence

Across her works, the vivid colour of the flower’s petals and tendrils evokes an otherworldly, almost cosmic presence, which is also reminiscent of antennas or satellite dishes – transmitters or receivers of messages. In the non-figurative works, in particular, they become stand-ins for the body emerging from lush, tangled foliage.

This shift away from portraiture to abstract still-lifes and landscape scenes marks a broader evolution in Mafafo’s practice towards more sculptural works in which the fabric itself takes on a bodily presence. Various embroidery techniques articulate this shift. Mafafo uses them to render some details, like the flowers and leaves, precisely, while threads elsewhere tangle, loop, and fray. Heavily worked, the final piece hangs loosely from the wall, as if reaching out into the space that surrounds it. 

a feeling of solidarity with all women

Collaboration and exchange is central to Mafafo’s process. For several years, she has been working with two women. She trained them in embroidery. The compositions remain her own. Each collaborator contributes a distinct stitching language that asserts its own rhythm and identity.

This results in richly layered surfaces that speak of feminine spaces and exchange. The artwork titled In Unity We Stand pays tribute to this unique process of making, but also to a feeling of solidarity with all women, both past and present.

Mafafo has said before that she hopes her work will evoke feelings of serenity and openness. In this exhibition, we see a more organic palette emerging, with earthy hues and velvety blacks offset by the luminous intensity of botanical forms. 

A space for tenderness, introspection and nurturing

In the figurative works, nature both shields the woman and expands her presence. In the still-life compositions, the botanical arrangements become meditative focal points. These are surrounded by flowing lines that recall both topographical formations and currents of energy. The energy seems to flow beyond the fabric’s edges.

The tactility and sensuality of Mafafo’s work speaks to the pleasure found through immersion in the natural world, but also to a form of female empowerment that makes space for tenderness, introspection and nurturing. 

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