photocredit: Tommy Smits
Shana de Villiers (b. 2000, St. Maarten) (they/them) is a South African artist based in The Hague, the Netherlands. Their practice drifts between the performative, visual, and literary, engaging with readings of the monstrous. Magical, colourful characters and fragmented stories that mirror societal fears and (post)colonial complications are characteristic of their work. With a collage-like working method, they patch together craft, theory and internet-age mythologies into sculptures, wearable works, texts, and immersive theatrical installations.
shanavilliers@gmail.com
@shanadevilliers
Member of the Billytown artist initiative.
UPCOMING
2026 Supermarket Independent Art Fair, Stockholm (SE)
2026 Solo Exhibition “I want to Be Glue!”, TUR, Riga, (LATV)
2026 The Factory Group Exhibition, Djupavik (IS)
2026 Solo Exhibition “I am Frankie, and you still love me”, Baerum Kunsthall, Fornebu, (NO)
2026 PADA Studios Residency, Barreiro, (PT)
SOLO EXHIBITION
2025 Solo Exhibition “I am Frankie, and you still love me”, Das Leben am Haverkamp, The Hague, (NL)
GROUP EXHIBITION
2025 When Continents Collide: Murf/Murw Festival, NS16, Tilburg, (NL)
2025 The General Meeting, Art Rotterdam, (NL)
2024 Overture, Trixie, The Hague, (NL)
2024 NIGHTSHIFT, Heden Gallery, The Hague, (NL)
2024 Geobacter, Quartair, The Hague, (NL)
2023 In Medias Res: Dinner Conversations, Omstand, Arnhem, (NL)
2023 Royal Academy of Art The Hague Graduation Show, The Hague, (NL)
2022 An Evening with the Shadow (a performative dinner and group show) Organised and curated by Shana de Villiers, Gabriel Kolesar, and Silke Riis. Barth Kapel, The Hague, (NL)
GRANTS
2026 Mondriaan Artist Start Grant
2025 Stroom Pro Invest
2023 MC de Visser Fonds (Grant for Graduation Project)
2022 Tesselschade Stichting (Scholarship)
2022 Stichting Schuurman Schimmel Van Outeren (Scholarship)
RESIDENCY
2025 Residency: ‘Where the Patchlings Live: between a costume and a book’, Page Not Found, The Hague, (NL)
2024 De Nijverheid x Amarte Fund Duo Residency, Utrecht, (NL)
SYMPOSIUM
2022 Impossible Stories Symposium: ‘linking colonial collections and climate change through critical fabulation’ in partnership with Maastricht University at Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam, (NL)
WORK IN COLLECTION
2023 The SIN Mask, Ine Gevers Private Collection
WRITING WORK
2024 The Case for Velvet Rock in Mnemotope 003. Published by Bog Bodies Press, Brussels, (BE)
2023 Splitting Mammalian Weeds: Monster for a Memory (Bachelor Thesis) Self-published.
2023 Publication of Impossible Stories Symposium: linking colonial collections and climate change through critical fabulation. Published by Maastricht University.
EDUCATION
2019-2023 BA in Fine Art. The Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, (NL)
2026 Supermarket Independent Art Fair, Stockholm (SE)
2026 Solo Exhibition “I want to Be Glue!”, TUR, Riga, (LATV)
2026 The Factory Group Exhibition, Djupavik (IS)
2026 Solo Exhibition “I am Frankie, and you still love me”, Baerum Kunsthall, Fornebu, (NO)
2026 PADA Studios Residency, Barreiro, (PT)
SOLO EXHIBITION
2025 Solo Exhibition “I am Frankie, and you still love me”, Das Leben am Haverkamp, The Hague, (NL)
GROUP EXHIBITION
2025 When Continents Collide: Murf/Murw Festival, NS16, Tilburg, (NL)
2025 The General Meeting, Art Rotterdam, (NL)
2024 Overture, Trixie, The Hague, (NL)
2024 NIGHTSHIFT, Heden Gallery, The Hague, (NL)
2024 Geobacter, Quartair, The Hague, (NL)
2023 In Medias Res: Dinner Conversations, Omstand, Arnhem, (NL)
2023 Royal Academy of Art The Hague Graduation Show, The Hague, (NL)
2022 An Evening with the Shadow (a performative dinner and group show) Organised and curated by Shana de Villiers, Gabriel Kolesar, and Silke Riis. Barth Kapel, The Hague, (NL)
GRANTS
2026 Mondriaan Artist Start Grant
2025 Stroom Pro Invest
2023 MC de Visser Fonds (Grant for Graduation Project)
2022 Tesselschade Stichting (Scholarship)
2022 Stichting Schuurman Schimmel Van Outeren (Scholarship)
RESIDENCY
2025 Residency: ‘Where the Patchlings Live: between a costume and a book’, Page Not Found, The Hague, (NL)
2024 De Nijverheid x Amarte Fund Duo Residency, Utrecht, (NL)
SYMPOSIUM
2022 Impossible Stories Symposium: ‘linking colonial collections and climate change through critical fabulation’ in partnership with Maastricht University at Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam, (NL)
WORK IN COLLECTION
2023 The SIN Mask, Ine Gevers Private Collection
WRITING WORK
2024 The Case for Velvet Rock in Mnemotope 003. Published by Bog Bodies Press, Brussels, (BE)
2023 Splitting Mammalian Weeds: Monster for a Memory (Bachelor Thesis) Self-published.
2023 Publication of Impossible Stories Symposium: linking colonial collections and climate change through critical fabulation. Published by Maastricht University.
EDUCATION
2019-2023 BA in Fine Art. The Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, (NL)