Gillian Rosselli (b. 1962) is an artist whose painting practice — spanning both figuration and abstraction — is shaped by a vivid inner life and a keen sensitivity to the socio-political currents of our time.
Based between Vienna and Harare, Rosselli continues to refine her impulse-led approach to abstraction, where colour, atmosphere, and rhythm serve as vessels for memory and place. Her latest body of work, Episodes of the Whole, marks a more expansive and contemplative turn — drawing on themes of birth and rebirth through recurring nest-like forms, and aligning her practice with a broader journey of transformation through evocative references to Homer’s Odyssey.
Rosselli uses her unique visual language as a tool to connect her work to the global contemporary discourse and themes of identity, queerness, narratives and memory. Rosselli is strongly committed to seeing and spiritual connections, embedding meaning through the layering of paint, sensitive use of colour, and mark-marking. Rosselli obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Michaelis School of Fine Arts in Cape Town in 1984 and has since developed her complex visual language. With six solo exhibitions to date, her work is included in public and private collections world-wide, including the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Royal Embassy of the Netherlands (Harare), Cottco Zimbabwe, Anglo American and Mobil Oil.
In 2024 Rosselli represented Zimbabwe at the Venice Biennale. Other noteworthy exhibitions include Five Bhobh - Painting At the End of an Era at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in 2018. She has won many awards throughout her career, including the overall award of distinction for painting in Zimbabwe in 1995.
Parallel to her solo exhibition at THK Gallery, Rosselli’s work features in the group presentation Hunyanzvi (Mastery) at Grisebach, Zurich.