Ava Grauls
b.1982 South Africa / Belgium
Artist based in London.
As a London-based visual artist and South African and Belgian immigrant, my practice operates at the intersection of political cartography, material forensics, and somatic identity. Rooted in my background, my work deconstructs how imperial borders partition lands and human movement. I translate archival colonial maps and personal archives into layered, tactile environments—utilizing raw copper, Victorian Thames bones, hand-stitched textiles, and chemically etched ceramic tiles. By subverting historical mapmaking, I expose how contemporary Western prosperity remains bound to legacies of colonial extraction. Moving beyond flat canvas, my practice expands into monumental, multi-sensory spatial installations where viewers physically navigate the boundaries and trade routes that define belonging. Refusing passive observation, I treat my materials as physical eyewitnesses to history, framing my artwork not as a static document, but as a living, somatic encounter with the fluid nature of memory, migration, and power.