TRACEY ROSE
6.06.26—5.09.27
Tracey Rose (b. 1974, South Africa) is internationally recognized for her evolutionary performative practice, which often translates to and is accompanied by photography, video, installation, and digital prints. Often described as absurd, anarchic, and carnivalesque, Rose’s work explores themes around post-coloniality, gender and sexuality, race, and repatriation.
This solo exhibition of artist Tracey Rose, brings together works created during Rose’s artist residency (2000) at Artpace, including the visceral video performance TKO (2000) and a suite of 62 untitled drawings—shown together for the first time. This solo exhibition offers an intimate look into Rose’s groundbreaking multidisciplinary practice while the works explore endurance, identity, creativity, and transformation through physical performance, intuitive drawing, and moments of humor and vulnerability.
From the raw intensity of TKO to the expressive energy of her drawings, the exhibition invites visitors to reflect on the body, mark making, and the emotional landscapes that shape human experience—making contemporary art approachable, thought-provoking, and accessible to a broad public.
Join Director of Ruby City, Elyse A. Gonzales, as she leads a gallery walkthrough of the exhibition on opening day, Saturday, June 2, 2026, from 2-3PM. Following the walkthrough, guests are invited to celebrate at a public reception to connect and reflect on the exhibition with music by Strawberry Jams, light bites by Sweet Yams, and complimentary drinks. MOVE Texas will also be on site, offering voter registration and resources, inviting visitors to participate in civic processes that impact arts and cultural spaces in our communities.
SAT 6.6.2026
2–3PM Walkthrough | 3–5 PM Reception
150 Camp Street
Admission to Ruby City is always free.
About the Artist
Tracey Rose (b. 1974, South Africa) was born in Durban, South Africa. In 1990, she joined the Johannesburg Art Foundation before obtaining a B.A. in Fine Art from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg in 1996.
In 2004, Rose attended The South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance and later obtained her Master of Fine Arts from Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK, in 2007. She currently lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Rose has taken part in several residencies, including the Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridgeshire, UK (2014); DAAD, Berlin, Germany (2012/13); Darb 1718, Cairo, Egypt (2012); Cruzes, Montevideo, Uruguay (2011); Khoj International Artists Workshop, Vasind, India (2005); Africa 2005 Residency, The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK (2004); Hollywood Hills House, Los Angeles, CA, USA (2001); Fresh, South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa (2001); and OK Centrum, Linz, Austria (2000). She has exhibited widely internationally, most notably in May You Live in Interesting Times, South African National Pavilion, 58th La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy (2016); Body Talk – Feminism, Sexuality & Body, 49 Nord 6 Estrac Lorraine, Metz, France (2016); False Flag, Art Parcours, Art Basel, Basel, Switzerland (2016); Toro Salvaje, Museum of Modern Art, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2016); (x), Reina Sofía Museum, Madrid, Spain (2014); Waiting for God, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa, and Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden (2011); Rose O’Grady (with Lorraine O’Grady), Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa (2011); Performa 17, New York, USA (2017); Documenta 14, Athens, Greece, and Kassel, Germany (2017); 11th Biennale de Lyon, Lyon, France (2011); Afro Modern: Journeys through the Black Atlantic, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK (2010); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2008); Africa Remix, The Hayward Gallery, London, UK, and Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France (2005); and Africaine, The Studio Museum, New York, USA (2002), to name a few. Her major traveling retrospective, Shooting Down Babylon, has been presented at Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town (2022); Queens Museum, New York (2023); and Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland (2024).
A Brush With…
Hear from the artist herself as she and art critic of The Art Newspaper, Ben Luke, talk about how Rose’s influences and cultural experiences have affected her life and work during her 2021 interview on A Brush With….
Among other things, she talks about her education as the only Black child in a catholic school in South Africa and her performances in which she explored gender and race, pushing her body to extremes. She talks about the seismic effect of seeing international contemporary art after the end of Apartheid, about how Duchamp is the most “African” artist in the Modernist canon, and how exploring her ancestry has led her to research the East African slave trade and the earliest forms of human creativity.