Ilhaam Stoloff graduated from the University of Johannesburg in 1994 with a BTech Fine Art (Cum Laude). She practiced as an artist in London until 1998, before returning to South Africa, and relocating to Cape Town.
Ilhaam was the Head of the Fine Art Department at the Ruth Prowse School of Art, where she lectured for fifteen years, during which time she helped shape successful career paths for artists such as Christopher Denovan, Jade Doreen Waller, Andrew Sutherland and Igshaan Adams, who was the 2018 recipient of the Standard Bank Young Artist for Visual Art Award. In 2010 her department received a ministerial award from the Western Cape’s Department of Sports and Culture for its contribution to the Visual Arts.
Since leaving the Ruth Prowse School of Art in 2013, Ilhaam has practiced as a professional artist and independent educator, facilitating the development of artist and designer identities for professional practice and application into higher education art and design programmes. In 2014, she graduated with her Degree of Masters Cum Laude in the Philosophy of Higher Education Studies from the University of Cape Town. Her thesis which is an investigation into of the basis of her own legitimacy as a South African Fine Art lecturer is published by the University of Cape Town and Karl Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory.
Ilhaam is currently the Head of Visual Communication at a private higher education provider and is the director of her private company Susbus (Pty) Ltd, trading as Biozest, a brand of solvents made from oranges.