Bokani (b. 1987, Zimbabwe; based in London, UK)
Bokani is an interdisciplinary artist whose work spans abstract glass painting, installations, computational art and large-scale public works.
She explores themes of freedom and power, grounded in the experience of ubunye (Ndebele for “oneness”). Through deep immersion in colour, Bokani invites viewers to see anew and to reflect on the fluid nature of self, structures of power, and the environment. The resulting artworks feel less made than channelled, dissolving the boundaries between artist, artwork, and viewer. In doing so, viewers are confronted with their own power, becoming complicit in both their individual and collective liberation.
Bokani holds a BSc in Politics with Economics from the University of Bath (2009) and an MA in Computational Art from Goldsmiths, University of London (2022). Recent milestones include a solo residency and exhibition at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo, the UK-survey museum group show Conversations, selection for the Gucci Art Program and winning the public vote on BBC One’s The Big Painting Challenge. Alongside her artistic practice, she is an active climate justice campaigner.
*Bokani uses only her first name in her artistic practice, rejecting patriarchal naming conventions.
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My art practice centres on the experience of freedom and the power it generates for both creator and viewer. My work captures what it feels like to be completely free - those rare, expansive moments when I am in flow and deeply connected to something greater than myself, something I call ubunye, loosely translated as “oneness.” The resulting artworks feel less like something I have made and more like something that has been channelled through me, all at once. The artwork takes many forms, including abstract painting on many surfaces including glass, sculpture, installation, and computational art. My process, therefore, is one of availability - allowing the art that wants to emerge to move through me.
I carry a lived, enduring experience of freedom and love that sustains my work and renders me intolerant of subjugation and injustice. Ubunye relates my freedom directly to that of others, dissolving boundaries between myself, the artwork, the viewer, and the wider world, even time. I confront viewers with their own power, implicating them in both individual and collective liberation. I invite critical engagement with pressing social, ecological, and relational questions while also holding space for personal contemplation.
Immersion in colour lies at the heart of my practice. I explore how the interplay of colours destabilises conventional perceptions of space, form, and self. Through vibrant tonal fields, I invite you to see anew, reflecting on the fluid nature of identity, power structures, and the environment. Through my practice, I pursue new modes of knowledge-making, allowing the artworks themselves to reveal insights about influence, possibility, and relational dynamics.
Ultimately, my practice is an invitation: to experience freedom, to recognise its absence, and to imagine ourselves into more liberated ways of relating to each other.
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University of Bath - Politics with Economics BSc - 2009
Goldsmiths College, University of London - Computational Art, MA - 2022
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The Visitation, St James Church, Piccadilly (London, UK) 2025
Beyond Borders,Finnish Museum of Technology (Helsinki, Finland) , 2025
New Bond Street Art Program,Gucci, (London, UK), 2024
Conversations,Walker Art Gallery, (Liverpool, UK), 2024
The Feminine divine, Kaliner Gallery, (New York City, USA), 2024
Sibone Okunye (solo), National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, 2023
Beyond Figuration: Then and Now, Gillian Jason Gallery, (London, UK) 2023
Untold Stories, A public art commission by the London Mayor’s Office for a mural in Freston Road, 2023Reconciliation: The unfinished business of liberation
Fiztrovia Chapel, (London, UK) 2022
Mystical Nature, Roman Road Gallery, (London, UK) 2022
In Conversation Now! Shapero Rare Books, (London, UK) 2022Some of us are brave III (Oxford, UK) 2022
#BlackArtOutdoors Billboards (London, Leeds, Bristol, UK)2020-2021
Port of Call, Changing Room Gallery, (London, UK) 2021
ING Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, (London, UK)2021
Some of us are brave II , Stratford Library,(London, UK) 2021
The New Hues Of Blackness, MYO Victoria, (London, UK) 2021
Kaleidoscope: A Celebration of Colour, Drian Gallery (London, UK), 2021
Shivers, Goldsmiths College, (London, UK) 2021
Some of us are brave, JM Gallery,(London, UK) 2021
Advent 2020, St Paul's Hammersmith, 2020
Bare & Bond, Old Bank Vault (London, UK), 2019
Art for Air, Old Bank Vault (London, UK), 2019
Blessed Art Thou Amongst Women, Mount St Jesuit Centre (London, UK), 2019
getLerped, Goldsmiths College (London, UK), 2018
Renaissance, Espace7 (Paris, France), 2018
Chapter Ten, Library Members Club (London, UK), 2018
Still Life, Glasgow Distillery (Glasgow, Scotland), 2017
Still Life, House for an Art Lover, (Glasgow, Scotland), 2017
Landscape, Westonbirt Arboretum (Cotsworld, UK), 2017
Expression, Library Members Club (London, UK) , 2015 – Solo show
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Art Review - Gucci Art Program: Acts of Translation
The Chronicle - "Sibone Okunye"- a maternal tale
The Sunday News- 'Exploring the stories of women'
The Independent - ‘Fine art can be black’
The Telegraph - The Big Painting Challenge
BBC 1 - The Big Painting Challenge, Winner of the Public Vote, 2018
The Guardian - Social enterprise lessons from the American South