A rare selection of beaded works by artists from the Ubuhle collective. Ubuhle means beauty in Zulu and Xhosa. Works by Ubuhle are part of the collections of numerous museums including the Smithsonian Institution, the Musée du Quai Branly and the Johannesburg Art Gallery.

This exhibition highlights the skill of the women of the UBUHLE collective - Ubuhle means beauty in the Zulu and Xhosa languages - and their spectacular beaded canvases. These women are based in a remote area of the Natal Midlands of South Africa and have turned their isolation into a strength, allowing a dialogue between their skills, the soul of the materials they use and the nature which surrounds them. Beadwork is a skill practiced by women in South Africa for centuries. Used for adornment, to signify the passage from childhood to adulthood or to communicate social status, beadwork became with apartheid a modest income supplement for families torn apart by migration and even a symbol of political opposition to apartheid. The UBUHLE women's collective is giving new life to this traditional art. Often figurative, these light paintings carry with them a multitude of abstract symbols. Meditative and artistic works, they are the personal and cultural memory of the artists, reflections of their daily environment and their imagination. The delicacy of the design, the dynamics of the compositions and the brilliance of the colours make you forget the months of work behind each beaded canvas. Works by Ubuhle are part of the permanent collections of more than 10 museums around the world including the Smithsonian Institution in the US, the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris and the Johannesburg Art Gallery in South Africa.