M.Shap Contemporary Art

02/09/2026

https://www.sasolsignatures.co.za/2026-finalists/megan-jill-milner-johannesburg/

A(m) I becoming (?), 2025 Thermoplastic and mixed media 150 cm x 110 cm Artist’s Statement The A(m) I(?) series emerged from an ongoing dialogue between artist Megan Shapiro and ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence named Astra. Rather than using AI as a tool for image generation, the collaboration ...

17/08/2026

Thank you so much Jamile De Koker for this beautiful spread in their August issue. It makes me feel very proud 💚. Seeing as August is my birthday month, I'm offering 15% off my artworks. Happy reading 💚 👩‍🎨

05/08/2026

Flying High
60 × 60 cm
3D Thermoplastic on wood with acrylic
(Swipe across for close-ups 👉) (price listed below)

Sometimes the only way to move forward is to rise above what has been weighing you down. From a different perspective, experiences that once felt overwhelming begin to reveal new meaning, allowing us to approach both ourselves and others with greater understanding.

Flying High is a reminder that while we can’t always change what has happened, we can change the height from which we choose to view it. And when our feet return to the ground, we do so with a clearer mind and a renewed sense of direction.

R8,500 unframed
R10,000 framed



Thermo plastic applied with a 3d pen

30/07/2026

I'm so excited to share that I have been named a finalist in the Sasol New Signatures exhibit taking place from September 10th- November. The piece that has been accepted is from my series "A(m) i (?)" which explores the amazing possibilities that can take shape if we learn to embrace AI instead of fearing it. This piece is titled "A(m) i Becoming(?)", which feels appropriate because two years ago when I applied to this exhibit, I didn't make it past the first round, so making it this far, knowing how I've worked so incredibly hard to find my own voice and technique in art, truly means more than words can describe. Never give up. Even when your ego tries to convince you to. Growth is on the other side of fear. I am becoming. And so are you.

28/07/2026

Room to Breathe is an invitation to pause. To put down the weight you’ve been carrying, breathe a little deeper, and remember that rest isn’t something we have to earn. It’s something we need.

Room to Breathe
70 × 100 cm
Mixed media on wood
R13,000 (framed)

21/07/2026

🇿🇦 #

20/07/2026

The Scream Heard on Gaia
110 × 110 cm
R25,000 (Sold)

At the top of a mountain in the Tankwa Desert, our group gathered for a Hapé ceremony. As the intensity built, the shaman reminded me that I could meet the experience however I chose—even if that meant screaming.

So I did.

A scream so loud it echoed through the mountains.

Only afterwards did I realise it wasn’t the pain I was screaming at. It was the frustration of carrying something for too long.

My friend Gaya sat quietly in meditation nearby. I later joked that it was “Gaya on Gaia,” but that moment became the heart of this piece. Her stillness forms the quiet centre, while the landscape radiates outward in waves of pressure, release and resonance.

Built on OSB—a surface made from compressed fragments—the material itself became part of the story.

Sometimes healing isn’t silent.
Sometimes it echoes.

20/07/2026

"Look Up"
50 x 50cm
Thermo plastic and mixed media on recycled wood.
R8500 (excluding framing)

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is the simplest.

When life narrows our focus, it’s easy to become consumed by what surrounds us—to carry old hurts, search for belonging, or move through the world without noticing the possibilities beyond eye level.

Among a crowd, one figure pauses.

She looks up.

That single gesture isn’t about finding answers. It’s about creating the space for them to appear.

The surrounding figures each carry their own unseen stories and emotional weight, reminding us that everyone is navigating something invisible. Yet hope rarely arrives while we’re only looking at the ground in front of us. Sometimes the first step toward change is simply allowing ourselves to imagine that there might be something more.

Look Up isn’t a portrait of one person. It’s an invitation to the viewer.

17/07/2026

Twisted
35 x 45 cm
Plastic filament and ink on foam board
R7500 (come framed with gallery glass by candice Berman gallery)

Twisted is about the moment after a metaphorical tornado, when life has been rearranged without asking your permission. A new pathway appears, but it is not straight, familiar, or easy to read.

The work holds that confusing in between, where you are moving forward while still trying to understand what just happened. The turns feel excessive. The terrain feels wrong. Yet the path is still a path. And somehow, it keeps carrying you.

17/07/2026

M y B e s t F r i e n d
25 x 15cm ( framed with gallery glass)
R6500

This piece is about the shadow self, not as an enemy, but as protection. It is the instinct that barks when a boundary is being crossed. We often blame this side of ourselves for being reactive, intense, or inconvenient, yet it is the part that notices danger first.

Learning your shadow is learning to train your protector, so it shows up at the right time, in the right way, and for the right reason.