Reviving Earth’s Colors | Material Storytelling Through Sustainable Practice

  • Studio Practice

    My studio practice is interdisciplinary, curious, and rooted in material research. I work with the earth as collaborator, unearthing pigments from soil and rocks, creating color from plants, and exploring the stories held within natural materials. Through natural dyes, and painting with ephemeral materials like tea and coffee, my process is a layered meditation on transformation, memory, and connection.

    My practice extends into writing and site responsive gestures that invite slowness and care, guided by gratitude, embodied practices, and an attunement to the quiet wisdom of the land.

    Wander through my studio practice 

  • Abenaart Shop

    Natural dyes | Earth Pigments | Paintings

    (CLOSED FOR THE SEASON - will reopen for the Fall November 2025)

    Abenaart Shop offers small-batch, nature-inspired creations - from naturally dyed bandanas, table runners, and scarves to handcrafted natural paints, inks, and pigment paintings. Each piece reflects the beauty of being in relationship with the earth.

    With an intentionally slow and seasonal approach, the shop (currently off season) opens for limited periods throughout the year.

About

Abena Motaboli (she/her) is a South African-born Basotho-Ghanaian artist, educator, natural dyer, and writer based in Chicago - the unceded lands of the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi (Three Fires Confederacy). She is the founder of Abenaart Studio, a seasonal online shop and a studio practice rooted in natural dyes, pigments, and ancestral materials informed by her Ghanaian, Togolese, Basotho, and Ndebele heritage. Her work lives at the intersection of land, lineage, and storytelling.

Born and raised in Lesotho, a landlocked country in Southern Africa, before moving to the U.S., she obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Columbia College Chicago and studied at L'Institut Catholique de Paris in France. With a deep commitment to social and environmental justice, her work explores belonging, interconnectedness, and material histories.

Through intuitive and restorative processes, Motaboli revives earth pigments and naturally dyed fibers, engaging in a dialogue with soil, plants, and rocks. Her research work seeks to bridge a connection between her home country in Southern Africa and where she is currently based in the U.S. Through installation, abstract works, or vibrant mural pieces, she creates spaces for reflection, deep listening, and belonging. Guided by Ubuntu and an ethic of reciprocity and care for the land, she continues to foster communal spaces that celebrate sustainable practices, pigment traditions, and land-based storytelling.

Motaboli has exhibited at Heaven Gallery Chicago, The Bhavan Gallery London, Woman Made Gallery, The Other Art Fair Chicago, SOFA Chicago, and Aqua Art Miami. Her work is also in private collections across the U.S. Her poetry has been published in Northeastern Illinois University’s SEEDS Literary and Visual Arts Journal.

Bio Image above & banner image at the top of the page were taken in the Midwestern Prairie by Atoi Glennette