Mbali Mthethwa is a Johannesburg-based artist, researcher, and organiser. She is the founder and creative director of The Herd, a craft and design studio that reimagines traditional beading techniques as a living language of identity, memory, and place. Through her practice, Mthethwa explores how materiality and craft can reclaim cultural space and challenge inherited narratives. By transforming everyday materials into powerful vessels of meaning, she reflects on heritage, belonging, and the evolving story of contemporary African identity. Her work has been exhibited both locally and internationally, including at the Sharjah Architecture Triennial 2.0, the 18th Venice Biennale Architettura, Maison & Objet in Paris, the Brooklyn Museum in New York, the Kunst Museum in Basel and the Wereldmuseum Leiden in the Netherlands.