Born in Swaziland in 1982, Mntambo graduated from the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, with a Masters degree in Fine Art in 2007; she lives in Johannesburg. Her first solo exhibition, Ingabisa, took place at Michael Stevenson in 2007, followed by The Encounter in 2009 and Umphatsi Wemphi at Brodie/Stevenson, also in 2009. She is the Standard Bank Young Artist for Visual Art 2011, with a solo exhibition titled Faena touring the country until September 2012. Her work is included on ARS 11 at Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki (2011); other recent group exhibitions include the 17th Biennale of Sydney and the 9th Dakar Biennale in 2010; Peekaboo: Current South Africa at the Tennis Palace Art Museum, Helsinki (2010); and Undercover: Performing and Transforming Black Female Identities at Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta (2009).