Mpumi Mayisa is fast emerging as one of Mzansi’s most exciting cultural connectors, redefining how people experience and engage with art.
Through her immersive, community-driven gallery walks, Gliding Through The Gallery, she’s transforming traditional art spaces into vibrant environments of connection, accessibility and belonging.
Her work proves that art can move beyond the walls of exclusivity and become as dynamic, welcoming and communal as the people who experience it.
“As African people, we love conversation, and South Africans are known as friendly and welcoming people. So, I wanted to curate the gallery space that carried those sentiments; a place where communities outside the art world can gather and connect,” says Mayisa.
"Gliding Through the Gallery is a space of art, community and connection, using the gallery as a repository for all those things to come alive.”
The 34-year-old curator and art advisor launched the educational platform as a space for connection and cultural exchange, creating a movement that makes contemporary art feel warm, social and accessible to a new generation of “art curious” audiences, a term coined by Mayisa herself.
“Many black people are art curious; that is, they have a desire to know about art, but they don’t necessarily know what the art has to do with them, and so my work is to foster accessibility,” she says.
“By bringing black people into the art world, they can begin to feel at home within art spaces and think of themselves as contributors and investors into the art world through how the glide is curated.”
Mayisa grew up in KwaThema, Ekurhuleni, and shares her first love affair with the lustrous art world – a world in which she knew she belonged. “The first time I knew that there was an actual art world, you know, that I could be interested in, was when I was in high school. I was in grade 8 and we took a trip to Montecasino. It was the first time I saw a theatre show,” she says.
“From that moment, I kind of knew that there was a bigger world outside of the world that I came from. However, it would only be in my 20s when I had moved to Johannesburg and started out as a photographer for JHB Live.
“I’ve been working in the art space for the past seven to eight years, and I’ve worked for galleries and institutions. Last year, I also got to curate a national exhibition for the department of sports, arts and culture. And then I decided to leave the gallery space because it just didn’t feel aligned anymore.”
Mayisa’s gallery walks take place bi-monthly in Joburg and once a quarter in Pretoria and Cape Town. With a special glide series happening at the Venice Biennale international art exhibition, in Paris and a glide scheduled for Nigeria.
“I began to be curious about what it means to make the art space more accessible and to also to determine how many people are art curious,” she says.
“This was a totally untapped market that I’ve been able to tap into. The reception has been amazing, people feel welcomed with some guests having even acquired art through my art advisory, Tsoko Art Advisory, and returning gliders [the name given to the guests on the gallery walk] who want to see more and friendships that have formed. I never would have imagined this would have emerged from this platform.”
Mayisa takes us through a gallery glide series.
“After I have visited and selected eight to 10 exhibitions taking place around the city, I’ll choose the galleries that we are to visit, linking them through a common theme.
“Once you have arrived, we have an icebreaker where people meet in the middle of the space, and that serves as a way of making the community feel tactile - something that you can touch, feel and experience.
“Then I will give people a walkabout of the first gallery, then gliders have an opportunity to glide through the space. Following that, I give them an explanation of the work and contextualise the work, the artist and the artist’s practice.
“The gliders then have guided discussions and review the work again after I have provided context. We do this at the second and third gallery and end off with us breaking bread in community and unpacking the themes from the glide day.”
