Nardstar*

Born Nadia Fisher in Cape Town in 1989, Nardstar* is the daughter of journalist Ryland Fisher and one of the few women to break through South Africa's male-dominated street art scene. Working from Side Street Studios in Woodstock, she has forged a distinctive geometric style — clean lines, vivid palettes and portraits of women of colour — drawing inspiration from indigenous flora, local fauna and the strength of the women around her.

Her international breakthrough came in 2013 at Brooklyn's Bushwick Collective, followed by France's Les Escales festival in 2016. In 2017 the artist was invited by the Obama Foundation in Chicago to paint a mural honouring female anti-apartheid activists. Major commissions followed: Nike World Headquarters in Portland (2018), 20-metre silos in Philippi for the Covid Awareness Project (2021), a Marvel Black Panther collaboration (2022) and Disney Springs in Orlando (2023).

Named among Mail & Guardian's 200 Young South Africans in 2021 and cover artist for The World Atlas of Street Art in 2024, Nardstar* advocates for women to see themselves celebrated on walls and in public spaces. Each mural is at once an act of representation and a quiet demand — to make visible what cities have too long overlooked.