Malaika Temba (b. 1996, Washington, D.C., USA) is a Tanzanian-American artist who works with analog and digital weaving techniques to create works that insist on the presence of the human hand. Using layered and collaged imagery and symbols from contemporary media and found images from Tanzania, Temba examines the cultural, historical, and geopolitical contexts she experienced growing up across Saudi Arabia, Uganda, South Africa, Morocco, and the United States. For Temba, making art is a process for understanding the world and distilling history, culture, emotion, and experience into a singular view.
Temba’s work has been featured in solo exhibitions at Gaa, Cologne, Germany; Lilia Ben Sallah, Paris, France; Naomi Fassil Gallery, New York, NY; and Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, FL, among others. Recent group exhibitions have been held at Fridman Gallery, New York, NY; Mindy Solomon Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Albertz Benda, Los Angeles, CA; Gaa, New York, NY; SITUATIONS, New York, NY; Lilia Ben Salah, Paris, France; and The Yard, New York, NY, among others. In 2018, Temba received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and has since been awarded residencies at Textile Arts Center, Brooklyn, NY; Silver Art Projects, World Trade Center, New York, NY; the Studios at Mass MoCA, North Adams, MA; the Bandung Residency at MoCADA; A4 Arts Alliance, New York, NY; and the Fountainhead Residency, Miami, FL, among others.