Born in 1964 in Witbank, South Africa, Diane Victor, a South African contemporary artist, went on to receive her BA in Fine Arts from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1986, and still resides in Johannesburg.

Diane has won several awards while still at university, including the 1985 Student prize for the NSA Paper works exhibition and the Anya Millman Scholarship for travel in Europe the same year. She would go on to win the Sasol New Signatures competition in 1986 and the Gunther van der Reis Price for Graphics at the same competition.  She has continued to win awards and accolades in the years since graduating notably, a fellowship to the Ampersand Foundation in New York, WAM Sasol Wax Award, and the Herrie Kanna award at the Absa Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK), and the Absa L’Atelier competition in 1988, amongst others. Diane has participated in multiple group shows and has had solo shows in numerous countries across the globe including the USA, Finland, Romania, Lesotho, New Zealand, and of course, South Africa.

Inspired by the chaotic scenes of Pieter Bruegel and Hieronymus Bosch, Victor’s practice aims at expressing her pessimism towards human society.  She is known for her drawings and prints that explore social injustice, war, and corruption. Made using charcoal and candle smoke, her portraits of missing children are among Victor’s most esteemed works.

Her works are included in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town, and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, among others.