Mareli Lal was born in 1985 in Cape Town, South Africa, where she currently lives and works. Having studied photography at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, Lal has previously practised as a professional photographer and curator and now works as a creative director in Cape Town.

Lal’s work is characterised by a clean and contemporary aesthetic, reflecting a careful balance of diverse influences from Nick Knight’s progressive image-making, to Robert Frank’s candid storytelling and the conceptual profundity of Christian Boltanski. Through her adept subversion of conventional paradigms, deliberate manipulation of spatial relationships and strategic placement of mundane objects, Lal transforms the banal into the extraordinary. She offers poignant reflections on the interplay of form and function in everyday life. She is a recipient of the FUJIFILM Award in the Fine Arts category.

In 2025, Lal presented a solo booth titled No Man’s Land in the curated Tomorrows/Today section at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair. Her first exhibition with SMAC Gallery, Artist Room, in Cape Town, South Africa was in 2024. She also participated in the joint exhibition, Group of Shows, at SMAC Gallery in Stellenbosch, South Africa during 2024.

In 2020, Lal participated in the group exhibition, A Hazy Shade of Winter, at Salon91 in Cape Town, South Africa. Previous group exhibitions include the Turbine Art Fair in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2018; Trees Make Forests at AVA Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa in 2017; and Digital Display at the Louvre Gallery in Paris, France in 2015. Her inaugural solo exhibition was presented at Dirt Contemporary in Cape Town in 2005 as part of their residency programme.

Beyond her art practice, Lal’s role as Creative Director for a prominent US e-commerce jewellery brand underscores her multifaceted engagement with the visual realm.