Yonela Makoba is a transdisciplinary artist. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental and Geographic Science and a Master’s degree in Theatre and Performance from the University of Cape Town. Her practice encompasses photography, performance art, installation, mixed media, and printmaking, engaging deeply with themes of memory, indigenous knowledge systems, and the body. Makoba’s research investigates the intersections of personal and collective memory through an autoethnographic lens.

Notable projects include iTi Ritual Studies, a multi-sensory exploration of rituals centered on ‘tea’, reimagining the ‘women’s space’ and honouring the archive of women’s knowledge. This work combines movement, symbolism, and listening to sacred knowledge to create transformative spaces for remembering.

Makoba’s work has been exhibited in solo and group shows and is held in the collections of the Iziko National Museum and the University of Cape Town. Her art interrogates and reconfigures narratives of belonging, memory, and transformation, bridging past, present, and future.