Ande Magoso is a South African visual artist. Before the age of six, he moved to Umzimkhulu and later to Kwa-Ngcolosi. Although these places are all situated within KwaZulu-Natal, each is culturally distinct, and this diversity continues to shape his practice.
Working primarily in painting and drawing, Magoso explores duality - the ways seemingly opposing yet interconnected experiences shape identity. His work is informed by growing up between Xhosa and Zulu cultures, speaking a blend of two languages, being raised in a religious household that also practised traditional customs, and the experience of being a twin. Rather than treating these as contradictions, he considers them spaces where multiple ways of being coexist.
Human figures merged with the features of goats and sheep have become central to his visual language. These animals hold enduring significance within both Xhosa and Zulu ritual practices and serve as recurring symbols through which Magoso examines cultural continuity, difference, belonging, and transformation. Their repeated presence allows individual works to speak to one another while remaining open to multiple interpretations.
Storytelling plays an important role in his practice. Influenced by oral traditions, cinema, and the portraiture of Gerard Bhengu, Magoso approaches each painting as part of an ongoing body of work in which recurring characters, gestures, and symbols gradually accumulate meaning over time. Rather than providing fixed narratives, his paintings invite sustained looking, allowing viewers to discover relationships between works through repetition, memory, and observation.
In 2020, Magoso completed a Visual Arts certificate through The BAT Centre’s Visual Art Artist-in-Residency Programme. His work has been exhibited in South Africa and internationally and is held in both public and private collections, including the National Museum Bloemfontein, The Ditau Collection, Phansi Museum, and The St. Claire Collection.