Kaylin Moonsamy

Artist Catalogue

Virtual Exhibition

Group Catalogue Site

Kaylin Moonsamy (b.1997, Durban, South Africa) is a Cape Town-based multidisciplinary artist. He trained under the supervision of Jane Alexander while completing a degree in Fine Art at the University of Cape Town. Moonsamy uses spirituality as a vehicle to comment on a variety of contemporary issues. The artist uses spices, traditional pigments, textiles, metals, egg tempera, etc. in his paintings as a way to incorporate his culture into his work. The artist draws inspiration from progressive Hindu ideologies and the Indian diaspora in South Africa. 

The early years of Moonsamy's life (2000-2009) were spent in temples and around shrines assisting priests during Hindu rituals dressed in silk and cotton. Similarly, the figures in his work are garbed in Indian textiles. The nostalgic sentiments of various offerings to divinities comprising an array of colours, scents, sounds, textures and flavours had a lasting impact on the artist. 

A recurring motif in the artist's work is the divine feminine, which is known as Adi Para Shakti (first transcendental energy) in ancient scriptures. This feminine divinity is believed to be the source of everything and hence relatable to everything. He renders forms of ancient Indian iconography in contemporary ways. As a queer artist, Moonsamy sheds light on marginalized groups with androgynous imagery in close relation to Indian spirituality, ancient customs, and the roles they play in a contemporary landscape. 

He has exhibited his work in Durban, Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Amsterdam alongside established artists in leading galleries. Moonsamy was invited to exhibit his work at Turbine Art Fair in 2021. Public interventions and performances were also on show at a variety of locations in Cape Town.