A Top Art Competition Brings TUT Alumni and Students Together. At this year’s Sasol New Signatures Art Competition, six Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) alumni students and four current students represented TUT with pride.
An award ceremony held at the Pretoria Art Museum on Wednesday, 6 September, recognized one merit award winner and nine finalists.
A Top Art Competition Brings TUT Alumni and Students Together
King Debs (34), an alumnus of Visual Communication, was recognized as one of five merit award winners for his mixed media work, titled Neo and Bina.
Taking a deep look at indigenous knowledge systems, Letebele’s work explores memory and time.
He has created a unique alphabet and visual language that embody the essence of movement, archive self-identity, and preserve self-preservation through sophisticated visual language.
By developing his own mixed media images, he is able to capture the essence and consistency of the subject matter, which he considers to be one of the most important aspects of his work.
He can reimagine calligraphy in an innovative way that is texturally rich and tactile by mixing various water-based compounds and adhesives with medium-density fiberboard.
In response to the question, he said, “I am extremely grateful for this award, and now I must push even harder, reimagine and apply myself all over again.” He won R10 000.
Bridget Modema (31), another alum of the Fine and Studio Arts Department, was also a finalist. The competition has reached this stage twice for her.
A range of cleverly designed cards were created by her over the course of 18 hours. It is entitled Emphatic Visions: E1 NFT Trading Cards.
The collection combines art, artificial intelligence (AI), storytelling, and emotional intelligence (EI). Aside from addressing social and mental well-being, these trading cards offer a compelling Augmented Reality (AR) experience where each card and character has unique abilities.
Especially in South Africa, these trading cards enable healing, understanding, and resilience in the wake of COVID. Through interacting with the cards, viewers are encouraged to explore the depths of EI and cultivate essential skills such as empathy and self-awareness.
The other alumni finalists from the Department of Fine and Studio Arts are Sello Letswalo (30), for his painting titled Mmakgomo (African identity and the role of the woman) (oil on treated steel), Wisani Manyisi (38), for a drawing titled The queen still standing (mixed media), Livhuwani Muthivhithi (30), for a drawing titled Muphaso ‘Hawan’ (A ceremony of burned offerings) (ink on canvas), and Naledi Sekgopi (27) submitted a ceramic sculpture called LETSOKU for the suicidal.)
As finalists, four current students are quite proud as well and did not leave the award ceremony without accolades.
The students are Francois Pietersen (23) and Inga Lokwe (24) of the Department of Fine and Studio Arts, as well as Thabang Mamabolo (31) of the Department of Design Studies and Lithabo Mmoa (24) of the Department of Fine and Studio Arts.
There is a strong interrogation of male identity and stereotypes in Francois and Lithabo’s works. A bronze and copper sculpture by Francois is titled Baby’s breath ball, while a canvas painting by Lithabo is titled Real men drink beer.
It is titled Breaking free I & II and is made up of glass, steel, and cement. A glass artwork exploring toxic femininity within the realm of sports and societal gender norms.
As a dedicated female athlete, Inga aims to expose the harmful effects of toxic femininity, which criticizes women who participate in sports traditionally associated with masculinity, such as boxing or rugby.
Featuring sterling silver, copper, ostrich eggshell and pearl, Thabang’s work was titled Finding home: A life-long journey. Though they are the first inhabitants of South Africa, the Khoisan people still struggle to have their language officially recognized.
The Chairperson of Sasol New Signatures, Prof Pfunzo Sidogi, congratulated the winners: “It is always encouraging to see TUT students and alumni recognized in national competitions like this one.”
My best wishes go out to all of the TUT-linked finalists, especially Ofentse Letebele, for continued success in their respective careers as professional artists”.
Among this year’s exhibitions is Mondli Mbhele’s solo exhibition, Ingoma Yothando, or Song of Love, translated from isiZulu.
With the Sasol New Signatures competition, presented by the Association of Arts Pretoria, emerging artists have been able to establish a platform for promoting their work. Several of the works have now been included in the Sasol art collection. The contest attracted 765 entries from across the country this year.
With an artwork titled Ndiziphiwe – They were given to me, Nosiviwe Matikinca from Gqeberha won the overall prize for 2023. It depicts underprivileged students wearing school shoes handed down from older siblings or relatives.
There will be an exhibition of Sasol New Signatures at Pretoria Art Museum until 29 October 2023.
Sasol New Signatures Catalogue 2023
Fine and Studio Arts alumni Theolophus Rikhotso, Sello Letswalo (2023 Finalist), and Naval Seakamela pictured at the awards ceremony.
Lithabo Mmoa (24) photographed with his artwork, titled Real men drink beer.
Thabang Mamabolo (31) with his artwork, titled A life-long journey
Postgraduate Diploma: Fine and Studio Arts student Francois Pietersen with his artwork, titled Baby’s breath ball.
Inga Lokwe’s artwork is a diptych in glass, steel and cement and is titled Breaking free I & II.
Visual Communication alum Ofentse Letebele was named one of five merit award winners with mixed media artworks (acrylic paint on MDF), titled Neo and Bina, respectively.
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