Madeleine van Manen’s solo exhibition, currently on show at Sisonke Gallery, maps the inner corners of Cape Town’s metropolis in a manner that reflects the life running through it.
Cape Town, South Africa (27 February 2026) – Most of the time, we move through the city without thinking too much about the buildings around us. Cape Town artist Madeleine van Manen sees her city as a way of understanding herself and others.
Her latest solo exhibition, FAÇADE, looks at Cape Town as a ‘map’ of emotional terrain rather than literal geography. She depicts buildings as containers of memory, stages for private rituals, and witnesses to the chaos and beauty of the human experience.
“I have painted the city almost obsessively for years,” Van Manen notes. “Not to document it, but to understand my place within it. Buildings hold our quietest moments; our work, our worship, our joy, our guilt, our longing. With this exhibition, I wanted to explore the tactile, intimate textures of those spaces and the stories they carry.”
The exhibition brings together large-scale paintings, tiny studies no bigger than a few centimetres, printmaking works, and soft fabric pieces that hang in front of the gallery windows. Some works reflect the size and weight of the city, while others zoom in on fragments like colours, shapes and sensations that hint at life shuffling behind the walls.
Conversation plays an important role in Madeleine’s process. She regularly speaks to residents, architects and people passing through the city, letting their experiences subtly influence her work.
Madeleine has been working as a full-time artist for over a decade, alongside teaching and community projects. Her work has appeared in exhibitions across South Africa, including the Nando’s Creative Exchange, group shows at AVA Gallery, and with The Printing Girls collective. She has also held two previous solo exhibitions and now has work in local and international collections.
FAÇADE runs at Sisonke Gallery at the Cape Heritage Hotel on Bree Street until 8 February 2026.
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