Michael MacGarry was born in 1978 in Durban, South Africa. Macgarry is a multi-award-winning visual artist and filmmaker based in Johannesburg. His practice focuses on socio-political and economic narratives, particularly within the context of Africa, drawn through a post-humanist autobiographical mode. He has a Master’s Degree in Fine Art from the University of the Witwatersrand and is a fellow of the Gordon Institute of Performing and Creative Arts (GIPCA) at the University of Cape Town. As well as a recipient of the Standard Bank Young Artist Award 2010.
MacGarry’s political and poetic oeuvre is realised across a diverse range of media - including sculpture, photography, paper, installation and film.
He has exhibited internationally at institutions including TATE Modern, Guggenheim Bilbao, Kiasma Museum and Iziko South African National Gallery. He has published four monographs on his work. As a filmmaker, Michael has written and directed seven short films, having featured on more than 30 international film festivals and is a recipient of an El Ray Award - Excellence in Narrative Short Filmmaking (Barcelona Film Festival 2015), a finalist for the Huysmans Young African Filmmaker Award 2015 (Belgium) as well as Jury Awards from 19th VideoBrasil (Sao Paulo), K3 Internationales Film Festival (Austria) and 13th International Festival Signes de Nuit (Paris).