Searle received her Bachelor in Fine Art in 1987 and a postgraduate diploma in in 1988 from the Michaelis School of Fine Artist She registered for the Masters degree in sculpture in 1992 and proceeded to graduate in 1995 with a Master of Arts in Fine Arts in 1995, also from the Michaelis School.
Often politically and socially engaged, her work also draws on the universal emotions associated with vulnerability, loss and beauty. FNB Volunteers in Technical Service Art Award (2000) Daimler-Chrysler Award for South African Contemporary Art (2000) Artes Mundi award (2004) Solo Exhibitions 2013 "Refuge" Louisiana Galerie Particuliere, Paris, France 2012 "Black Smoke Rising Trilogy" Ron Mandos gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2011 "Shimmer" Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town 2011 "Interlaced" De Hallen, the Belfry Tower, Bruges. Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnhem (MMKA), Arnhem, the Netherlands.
Frac Lorraine, Metz, France (featuring new commissioned work) Group Exhibitions 2015 "Distance and Desire: Encounters with the African Archive" The Walther Collection, Ulm, Germany.
Curated by Tamar Garb 2014 "Earth Matters" National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution. Washington District of Columbia, United States of America 2014 "Public Intimacy.
Art and Other Ordinary Acts in South Africa" Yerba Buena Center with the Arts in conjunction with SFMOMA. San Francisco, United States of America 2013 "Terminal. As part of the program LAND" Various locations across the City of Cape Town.
Organized by GIPCA, curated by Jean Brundrit and Svea Josephy and Adrienne van Eeden Wharton 2012 "The Human Condition" Bradbury Gallery, State University, Arkansas, United States of America Recent group exhibitions include Figures and Fictions at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, She Devil at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome (MACRO), The Dissolve.
SITE Santa Fe, 8th International Biennial, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography, Museum of Modern Art, New New York She has participated in the 2nd Johannesburg Biennale (1997) and the Venice Biennales of 2001 and 2005.
