UMLILO BIO

Intergalactic shape-shifting kwaai diva Umlilo is an innovative genre and gender-bending multi-disciplinary artist in music, fashion, 3D animation, VR, visual art and performance. She is the founder of Future Kwaai Records, co-founder of LeGrand Queer Arts Festival and the fashion label Kwaai Boutique. She also hosts a podcast called Chakra Hunz on The Other Radio.

Her work is rooted in the black and queer experience and tries to foster conversation and exchange with local and international communities and artists. She has collaborated with and facilitated cultural exchange projects and residencies all over the world including Brazil, USA, Switzerland and Germany.

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She has exhibited at Vitra Design Museum's travelling exhibition titled "Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design (Europe), Goethe Institute Archive of Forgetfulness exhibition and coffee table book (South Africa), Explode! Exhibition in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Kunstegewerbemuseum at Berlin’s Museum of Decorative Arts (Germany) and Kunst Museum Villa Straueli (Winterthur, Switzerland) and OneBeat Virtual 1-3 online exhibition and performance (Virtual USA).

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Umlilo merges an avant-garde aesthetic with technology, visual art, dance, film, XR, digital art and fashion design. She has released three acclaimed visual EPs and one LP, which have been playlisted worldwide, received over half a million streams online and featured across film, art, literature, fashion, and music platforms.

Umlilo has toured internationally in the USA, Europe and South America. She has also collaborated with institutions like Pro Helvetia, Goethe, OneBeat USA, Electric South and many more. In 2022, she completed a three-month music residency in Zurich, Switzerland collaborating with local artists. Her latest VR-360 music video Bhuti was nominated for a Fakugezi Award in 2022 and she completed the OneBeat X cultural exchange residency and tour in New Mexico, USA.