Mahari Chabwera (born April 11, 1995) is an artist and curator best known for her tapestry paintings illustrating universal symbols and archetypes. She utilizes beads, oil paint, mica, cowrie shells, tempered glass and fabric as painting elements. Using womanist principles as a point of departure, Chabwera has curated several group exhibitions, including Salt Eaters, named in unison with The Salt Eaters Fellowship, a grant Chabwera founded in 2020 to serve as mutual aid for Black Women Artist’s creative rest and experimentation. Salt’s most recent award recipients, Angelique Scott, 2022-23 and Gerald A. Brown, 2024-25 received a total of $6,500 made possible through a combination of personal funds, and a generous donation from critically acclaimed painter and printmaker Latoya M. Hobbs.

 

In 2017 Chabwera graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a BFA in Painting & Printmaking. In 2019 she was awarded The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Professional Fellowship, and in 2020 she received the Visual Arts Center Emerging Artist Award. In 2021 Chabwera founded Studio House, a live + work space for artists in East Baltimore that closed in 2023. In support of the project, which provided housing, studio space, and professional development opportunities to a dozen artists, she was awarded The Grit Fund from the Peale Museum, along with a Maryland State Arts Council Creativity Grant. Chabwera’s work has been acquired by the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, and commissioned by The University of Virginia for their permanent collection.

 

She has participated in residencies with The Contemporary Arts Network and Vermont Studio Center.