Banele Khoza

Artist Banele Khoza painting with ink onto grained film

Banele Khoza was in born in 1994 in Hlatikulu in Eswatini. During high school, he moved to South Africa and is now based in Tshwane. He studied at the London International School of Fashion for a year, studying Fashion Design. Dismayed by the limited opportunities to draw he transferred to study Fine Arts at Tshwane University of Technology. On completion of his degree, he taught Drawing as well as Art Theory at the same institution. In 2018 he decided to stop teaching to work as a full-time artist and to launch the multi-purpose studio and gallery BKhz in Keyes Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg.

Khoza’s lithographs, demonstrate his skill and dexterity. His ability to embrace the unknown and to immerse himself in the technical possibilities of what lithography has to offer combined with the skills of master printer Mark Attwood have resulted in prints that reveal the artist’s gifts.

Khoza worked on stone and grained film using a combination of pencil, litho crayon and ink and tusche washes. The delicate traces of the dried ink, Khoza’s choice of colours and drawing abilities combine to delight the eye. Khoza has been a keen draftsman since the age of five, drawing images of the toys that he wanted but which his conservative parents refused to get for him. This sense of longing and vulnerability can be seen in Khoza’s lithographs.

Obsessively neat and detailed text weaves through some of the prints, but often one cannot read all of the words. It is if the artist entices one into his private world and then stops one from fully accessing it, questioning the viewer’s motives for the intrusion. Khoza’s journals are an integral part of his practice and are reflected in his image-making “I have never seen so many sharp pencils” is some of the text included in one of his lithographs. Khoza’s interest in the private and the public merges with his interest in social media, technology, connection/disconnection, isolation and a longing to be whole and completely present with someone as well as with oneself.

Khoza’s three most recent lithographs explore a longing for connection and a wariness of self-criticism.

His earlier prints Dear Olympia (a reclining nude with two cats) and Don’t forget the tomatoes (from the first set of lithographs that he did) remind one of everyday routines. In the six two-colour prints faces and bodies are alluded to, the delicacy of the washes contrasting with the boldness of the forms. And just as things seem to be getting serious the text and titles pull one back with a sense of delight and quirkiness.

New Editions from The Artists' Press

Artists A - L (listed alphabetically by surname)

Artists M - X (listed alphabetically by surname)

For orders (with free shipping) or any other enquiries, please contact us.


Two men standing alongside each other, loosely painted in blue and purple tones with handwritten text

Title: Me? Out of everyone?
Medium: Four colour lithograph
Paper size: 76 x 57 cm
Edition size: 30
Price: R 8 300 (excl. VAT)

Text on print reads: " Me? Out of everyone?? After a long time of silence, he broke it. He said he is good and is impressed by what is going on. My friend said I should not overthink it now. I am prone to overthinking. How can I not overthink the possibility of us. Months have passed and he sounds still interested in me." Banele Khoza, 2020


Two men embracing and kissing, loosely painted in rich blue and purple tones

Title: When meeting the One
Medium: Four colour lithograph
Paper size: 76 x 57 cm
Edition size: 30
Price: R 8 300 (excl. VAT)

"When meeting the One, depicts a scene that is repeated over and over from different forms of media about the narrative of the one. It is an emphasis of passion that one will feel - that will invoke the change of your life's narrative. We go on searching for the one, to be met by reality. Often the one is already next us but we are blinded by the false promise of the first encounter. It will not be love at first sight - maybe infatuation." Banele Khoza, 2020


person's head and torso facing the viewer with a smaller head peeking over the main figure's shoulder

Title: The devil on your back (shake him off)
Medium: Three colour lithograph
Paper size: 76 x 57 cm
Edition size: 20
Price: R 8 300 (excl. VAT)

"Shake it off (The devil on your back) The title is derived from Florence + The Machine's "Shake it Out"

"I can never leave the past behind
I can see no way, I can see no way" 

The piece is about self-doubt and insecurities that hold you back - one has to shake them off in order to align with their own destiny." Banele Khoza, 2020


a man in a blue suit with salmon coloured background. Handwritten text  reads "while at it don't forget the tomatoes"

Title: Don't forget the tomatoes.
Medium: Five colour lithograph
Paper size: 57 x 76.5 cm
Edition size: 20
SOLD OUT


a loosely drawn reclining male figure on a bed with two cats and flowers

Title: Dear Olympia
Medium: Five colour lithograph
Paper size: 57 x 76.5 cm
Edition size: 20
Price: R 8 300 (excl. VAT)


a person's face in profile in burnt orange colour with black handwritten text creating neck form

Title: Overthought
Medium: Two colour lithograph
Paper size: 56 x 36 cm
Edition size: 20
SOLD OUT


man's head and torso with arms raised. Handwriting worked into the area between head and arms.

Title: Confessions of a Loner
Medium: Two colour lithograph
Paper size: 56 x 36 cm
Edition size: 20
SOLD OUT


four human heads loosely painted in burnt orange and black, one head filled with handwriting

Title: The Untold Love Story
Medium: Two colour lithograph
Paper size: 56 x 36 cm
Edition size: 20
Price: R 6 200 (excl. VAT)


abstracted human head and shoulders in orange and black using ink washes and fine pencil drawing.

Title: Blissfully Married
Medium: Two colour lithograph
Paper size: 56 x 36 cm
Edition size: 20
SOLD OUT


abstracted human head in black using ink washes and fine pencil drawing with lacy orange detail

Title: Widower
Medium: Two colour lithograph
Paper size: 56 x 36 cm
Edition size: 20
SOLD OUT


Limited edition lithograph by Banele Khoza of a person's head and torso looking forward with the right-hand side of face obscured by loose brushwork in ink.

Title: Hiding
Medium: Two colour lithograph
Paper size: 56 x 36 cm
Edition size: 20
SOLD OUT


person facing forward from below the neck to below groin with "no" written over the pubic area

Title: No!!! Forbidden
Medium: Two colour lithograph
Paper size: 56 x 36 cm
Edition size: 20
Price: R 6 200 (excl. VAT)

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