Following the opening of its permanent New York gallery in Tribeca this April, Southern Guild returns to The Aspen Art Fair (in its third consecutive presentation), with a major multidisciplinary showcase that reflects the gallery's expanding presence in the US market. Held at the historic Hotel Jerome, the fair enters a new chapter under the direction of Kelly Cornell, further cementing Aspen's position as a significant destination on the international summer art calendar.

Returning for the first time as a New York-based gallery, the presentation features internationally acclaimed multidisciplinary artist Tschabalala Self, who will be showing with Southern Guild for the first time, alongside works by Chloe Chiasson, Jozua Gerrard, Lebohang Kganye, Justine Mahoney, Napoles Marty, Roméo Mivekannin, Nandipha Mntambo, Zanele Muholi, Usha Seejarim, Chidy Wayne and Dominique Zinkpè.

Across Booth B11, painting, photography and sculpture explore questions of identity, memory, material transformation and cultural inheritance. Highlights include new paintings by Tschabalala Self, whose distinctive approach to contemporary figuration draws together sewn, printed and painted materials in richly layered compositions. The presentation also features new works by Johannesburg-based artist Nandipha Mntambo and Ivorian multidisciplinary artist Roméo Mivekannin, ahead of his first solo exhibition with Southern Guild New York opening in September. Cuban-born artist and 2026 Frieze Los Angeles Impact Prize recipient Napoles Marty returns with his signature carved sculptures following his debut with the gallery at Frieze New York.

Beyond the booth: Aspen Art Week program featuring Zanele Muholi

Southern Guild's presence extends beyond the booth and into Aspen Art Week through a presentation of Faces and Phases by visual activist Zanele Muholi at the Red Brick Center for the Arts, on view from July 28 – August 1, 2026, in collaboration with Buckhorn Public Arts. Following Muholi being named as the Hasselblad Award Laureate for 2026, the installation brings together over 50 portraits from the landmark photographic series and marks the latest chapter in one of the most significant ongoing visual archives of Black Queer lives globally.

Initiated in South Africa in 2006, Faces and Phases honours and documents Black LGBTQIA+ communities through portraiture and personal testimony. Built through long-term relationships with participants, the evolving project affirms dignity, self-representation and collective memory while preserving lives and histories too often omitted from dominant visual culture. Now marking its twentieth anniversary, the series has expanded from its South African origins to include portraits made in cities including London, Porto, Panama City, Los Angeles, Salvador and São Paulo.

The Aspen presentation coincides with Kanye Nawe, the artist's major solo show at Southern Guild Cape Town. Marking two decades of Faces and Phases, the exhibition brings together photography, sculpture and moving image in one of Muholi's most comprehensive presentations with the gallery to date.

On August 1, Southern Guild Founder Trevyn McGowan joined Tim Sack, founder and executive director of Buckhorn Public Arts and Sarah Roy, executive director of Red Brick Center for the Arts, for a guided installation tour and discussion exploring portraiture as a powerful tool for visibility, remembrance and cultural documentation.