The Creative Feel Art Diary features the latest events, performances, talks and festivals in the realms of South African visual art, theatre and live music, all carefully curated by our editorial team.
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Things are happening all over South Africa, see what’s on our radar.
What's on?Where to go and see your favourite exhibition opening & events.
Take a tourBrowse through teaching resources for schools that teach visual art.
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Art exhibition: 17 July – 31 August
When the Dust Settles at NWU Botanical Gardens Gallery
In his exhibition, When the Dust Settles, Joe Turpin brings to the fore an eye-opening account of the dangers of anti-Semitism and the scarcity of Jewish communities in South Africa.
Lifestyle festival: 1 – 3 September
Handmade Contemporary Fair
Handmade Contemporary Fair is Africa’s premier artisanal luxury fair, showcasing the finest handmade creations from across the continent, this year, showcasing the talents of over 100 artisans.
Fashion and ceramics
Safari in Style Collection at Ardmore
Ardmore recently introduced their timeless, one-of-a-kind jewellery pieces, embellished with Ardmore ceramic art and the finest gemstones.
Exhibition: 15 August – 14 October
Introspect at Wits Art Museum
Introspect is a mid-career survey exhibition of works by Thonton Kabeya. The large-scale display offers a glimpse into the artist’s inner-world and process, illustrating how Kabeya’s art delves into the richness of being human, and African specifically.
Competition deadline: 31 August
Call 4 Creators
4th STREET Wines has launched a new competition, Call 4 Creators, aimed at aspiring up-and-coming artists, designers, illustrators, photographers, dancers, musicians, producers, stylists, and any other creators.
Application deadline: 30 September
Theatre and Performance course
Applications are now open for the Market Theatre Laboratory’s Theatre and Performance full-time course, for study in 2024. Talented, determined young people who are passionate about the performing arts and want to become part of the next generation of artistic innovators, change-makers and storytellers are welcome to apply.
Ceramics: until 23 October
An Act of Faith at Spier Wine Farm
An Act of Faith is an exhibition of ceramic works by 28 South African ceramic artists, telling the story of physical, emotional and spiritual transformation hosted at Spier Wine Farm.
Circus: 31 August – 10 September
MOYA at the Teatro
Zip Zap Circus returns to Montecasino’s Teatro Theatre with MOYA, heart-warming tale of spirit and transformation.
Art exhibition: 10 August – 15 September
Landscape Echoes at Goodman Gallery Cape Town
Clive van den Berg continues to reflect on his own complex relationship to landscape with his Landscape Echoes exhibition providing a body of work that communicates a more visceral articulation of this engagement.
Theatre: 9 – 20 August
Women’s Month Festival at The Drama Factory
Celebrating South African women through music, comedy and drama, the second Women’s Month Festival – Your Voice, Your Stage runs at The Drama Factory this August.
Competition deadline: 17 September
New Breed Art Competition
The New Breed Art Competition invites new and emerging Free State-based artists to enter and take a step towards being discovered as a new breed of artist.
Ongoing exhibition: until June 2024
Images of Human Rights Portfolio at Ruach Elohim Church
The MTN Foundation and MAPSA present a display of the Images of Human Rights Portfolio from the MTN Art Collection, comprising 27 striking black and white lino and woodcut pieces, created by 27 artists in recognition of South Africa’s Bill of Rights.
Music: 10 and 12 December
Dave Matthews Band tours South Africa
Dave Matthews Band will be performing live in South Africa this December, set to headline SunBet Arena, Time Square in Pretoria, and Grand Arena, GrandWest in Cape Town. These shows mark the band’s first performances in Dave Matthews’ home country of South Africa since 2013. Tickets sales open 9 June.
Exhibition: 24 September 2022
20-year survey exhibition by Keiskamma
This Heritage Day sees the 20-year survey exhibition of the Keiskamma Art Project, at Constitution Hill, Johannesburg. ‘As many of you know, this has been a long and passionately focused journey,’ says the collective. ‘We could not have achieved our mission to present the remarkable output of the Keiskamma Artists’ Collective without help from our wonderful community of lenders, donors, supporters and friends. You have worked tirelessly alongside us and have shared our commitment to bringing the retrospective to fruition.’
Art exhibition: 17 July – 31 August
Stairways and Ruins at NWU Gallery
Comprising installations, paintings, and moving images by 23 established and emerging artists, including students, Stairways and Ruins looks to the writings of Bessie Head and Sol Plaatje for inspiration.
Concert: 26 August
A musical tribute to Latozi Madosini Mpahleni at Baxter Concert Hall
Back due to popular demand is Umoya uthethile (The spirit has spoken) – A musical tribute to Latozi Madosini Mpahleni presented by the UCT Ibuyambo Orchestra, and directed by Thabisa Dinga.
Opera in cinema: until 27 August
Met Opera: Live at Ster-Kinekor and Cinema Nouveau
The final three productions in the current season of Met Opera: Live include Terence Blanchard’s Champion, Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Andre Rieu’s 2023 Maastricht: Love Is All Around is also coming up at select Ster-Kinekor and Cinema Nouveau cinemas.
Exhibition and podcast: 15 December – 2023
Listen Again! at the Voices of Women Museum
Linda Sonaba, Scout Fynn and Amanda Plaatjies have worked with the Voices of Women story cloths, wrestling with the challenges of curating a ‘living heritage’ in the 2022 annual VoWM exhibition. Listen Again! invites you, the viewer, to participate as before, but this time to be aware of how you listen, read and view the work. In contemporary views of a transforming South Africa, we know that historical record has been erased over centuries and we know that the telling of our histories (as women) has been distorted.
Theatre: 2 – 19 August
The Beauty Queen of Leenane at The Baxter
Winner of five Naledi Theatre Awards, The Beauty Queen of Leenane makes its Cape Town debut after playing to critical acclaim in Joburg. The play is a darkly comic tale about the turbulent, dysfunctional, and often savage relationship between mother and daughter, Mag and Maureen Folan.
New music release
Bowscapes by various artists
A new compilation CD, Bow Project 2: Bowscapes has contributions from a number of South African and international composers. “Bowscapes reflects both the community roots of bow music and the collaborative processes Jürgen Bräuninger fostered.” The 21 electronic tracks illustrate how heritage and innovation can interact in “traditional” music.
The Imbali Artbooks: Adventuring Into Art, is a boxed-set of large-format art educational resource books. Imbali’s primary intention in developing the series of artbooks is to provide rich teaching resources for schools that teach visual art. The books focus on South African art and artists. They guide teachers in art educational methodologies, engaging their learners in looking at and discussing artworks and also in art-making activities, techniques, and approaches. Here’s a quick look at the set of artbooks:
Book one: Getting Started
Abstraction; the visual language of art; an art vocabulary; line and its expressive possibilities; lines and sound; lines and movement; using different media to create expressive lines; colour; colour theory and colour-mixing and using paint.
Book four: Things
The lives of objects and their meanings; objects of ritual, the still life in South African art; drawing and painting still lifes; keeping a sketchbook; self-portrait in objects; texture in art; rubbings; Dada and objét trouvé; museums; a miniature museum; creating sculptures in papier maché; Pop Art; advertising and consumerism.
Book seven: Inner Worlds
Early symbolic object-making; San Rock art in South Africa; some cultural traditions and rituals; art and the missionary influence in South Africa; ritual objects; Jackson Hlungwane’s New Jerusalem; symbolism and surrealism in South Africa and creating surrealist imagery.
Book two: Faces
Portraiture in South Africa; making a self-portrait; identity – photographing ourselves; self-portraits in charcoal; the traditions of masks in Africa: masks and power; making a “power mask” and performance.
Book five: Places
Artists and the environment; landscape painting and drawing in South African art; other kinds of “landscapes”; San conceptions of the land; depictions of the land and its colonial and other histories; drawing and painting outdoors; perspective; land art and site specific art; environmental awareness through performance and installation.
Adventuring into Art Teaching Guide
Adventuring into Art is a guide to teaching art for South African teachers. The guide section is available as part of the book.
Book three: Bodies
Expression through the body, artists’ depictions of the body in action; sculpture and the human figure; traditional child figures in South African art; figure drawing; carving; assemblage; construction; gender prejudice; feminist artists; self-image and body mapping.
Book six: War Zones
Art and war; art under Apartheid, art and resistance; documentary photography; curating your own exhibition; poster art in South Africa; designing and making posters, silk-screening; stencilling; graffiti and mural art.
The Creative Feel team’s top picks
Theatre: 22 – 24 June
Dog Rose at B2 Arena
“The play raises awareness about Autism Spectrum Disorder, which has historically been mis-diagnosed in women and girls. A possible diagnosis of high-functioning autism can sometimes explain social interactions and can help us to better understand each other which is more and more important.” – Lore Watterson
The Creative Feel team’s top picks
Theatre: 30 June – 2 July
Hold Still at Graeme College
“There are a whole lot of far-reaching, and enduring themes being tackled in this play and I’m interested to see how they’re handled in a 60 minute production. Mostly, though, I am putting Hold Still on my must-see list because of the extraordinary team that’s brought it to life.” – David Mann
Creative Feel editor’s top picks
Comedy / Theatre: 22 – 27 June
The Agents at Princess Alice
“Pombo’s brand of bizarre and biting satire usually always draws on the absurdity of everyday life, and when it comes to the realm of South African real estate, I imagine The Agents will be as illuminating as it is amusing.”
Creative Feel editor’s top picks
Dance / Theatre: 25 – 28 June
May I Have This Dance at Gymnasium
“I’m interested in its narrative simplicity and the complicated, but universal themes it might hold. I missed the play at last year’s Festival, where it won a Silver Ovation Award, so I look forward to seeing it at this year’s NAF.”
The Creative Feel team’s top picks
Theatre: 26 – 28 June
Text Me When You Arrive at B2 Arena
“An exploration into the plight of South African women and their everyday struggles, this powerful satirical showcase promises an earnest view into the fears of women and the societal rules that claim to ‘keep women safe’ and should thus be a must-see for all.” – Thuli Mabaso
The Creative Feel team’s top picks
Various dates | Various venues
This year’s Standard Bank Young Artist Award winners
Visual Art: Lady Skollie
Poetry: Koleka Putuma
Dance: Thamsanqa Majela
Music: Msaki
Theatre: TheatreDuo (Billy Langa and Mahlatsi Makgonyana)
Jazz: Linda Sikhakhane
Creative Feel editor’s top picks
Theatre: 26 – 28 & 30 June – 1 July
Swartwater at St Andrew’s Hall
“Geralt Cloete along with the cast and their dramaturg, Lee-Ann Van Rooi, have the opportunity to situate audiences in an essential, albeit painful, part of South Africa’s collective history and posit a way forward, or perhaps a new way of reflecting on the past.”
Creative Feel editor’s top picks
Dance / Theatre: 25 – 28 June
May I Have This Dance at Gymnasium
“Île had a magnificent physical debut last year… Does this mean that it returns to the 2023 Festival unchanged? Have Sophie Joans and director Rob van Vuuren (a Fringe veteran himself) decided to switch up or do away with any elements of the work, or have they decided not to mess with a good thing? We’ll have to wait and see.”
The Creative Feel team’s top picks
Music: 23 – 24 June
Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra at Guy Butler Auditorium
“You know I like the soothing sounds of classical music on crisp Thursday evenings at the Linder, but it’s pretty cool that the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra is touring South Africa. In the industry that is Classical Music, which requires exceptionally skilled and driven musicians, I can only imagine the enthusiasm these guys are going to bring to the stage.” – Angelia Müller
See you in Makhanda
The countdown to the 2023 National Arts Festival begins
Makhanda’s annual celebration of the arts starts in a few weeks and we are counting down the days. This year, the organisers are spreading out the programme highlights across the full eleven days, which means those who are staying for only two or three days can enjoy a diversity of National Arts Festival shows. Festival veterans will return, international acts are popping in and brand new Fringe shows continue to innovate.
Creative Feel editor’s top picks
Theatre: 28 June – 1 July
Cruise at Glennie Hall
“I saw Cruise in 2022 when it debuted at Johannesburg… At the time, I wondered how the [UK] play might have adapted to its setting in South Africa… given the country’s own history with HIV and Aids. So, I’m interested to see how the play does in Makhanda, and how it might have changed, if at all.”
National Jazz Festival Makhanda
The jazz community’s irrepressible energy
Now in its 36th year, the National Jazz Festival Makhanda forms part of the annual National Arts Festival, with a programme that has become a barometer of South African jazz. It’s also a gathering place for artists, many of whom take a break from their international travels to meet, jam and create new ideas. For fans it’s an annual pilgrimage, and for new audiences it is an introduction to a musical genre that has defined generations and inspired millions across the globe.
As a multidisciplinary artist, Buhlebezwe Siwani demonstrates profound range. Working across embodied performance, installation, video, photography, works on paper and sculpture, she creates art that is a continued meditation on the intersections of spirituality, indigenous practices, culture, history, and religion through centring the black female body and lens.
Exhibition: 24 February – 8 April 2023
iYeza at Standard Bank Gallery
The Standard Bank Gallery is currently exhibiting iYeza, a solo exhibition of recent work by Buhlebezwe Siwani. First exhibited in Makhanda, as part of the National Arts Festival, the exhibition now moves to Johannesburg in celebration of a significant milestone – the artist’s selection as the Standard Bank Young Artist for Visual Art 2021.
Buhlebezwe Siwani’s iYeza investigates the power and potential of plants, in artistic gestures towards healing
By Creative Feel
The life force of the exhibition is the symbiotic relationship to and with plants, their meaning and our history. Through video and sculpture, Siwani physically places the flora of the show’s title in the exhibition – using wood, imphepho, eucalyptus tree stumps, grass, alongside imbola, umkhando and soil as part of the materials that create these works.
Thematically, she considers the intersection of the physical and spiritual, women’s labour, ecological warfare, and codified African spiritual practices in an expansive consideration of the power and potential of plants, all while gesturing towards healing.
Navigating land and sea in the centre of Johannesburg
By David Mann
Grass is currently growing in Johannesburg’s Standard Bank Gallery. There’s fresh soil and a body of water, too. These materials, installed as part of Buhlebezwe Siwani’s solo exhibition iYeza, have a profound effect on the brick and mortar building they occupy, as well as those who’ve entered the space. Here, in a gallery in the heart of the city, the invitation is clear: remove your shoes, and walk.
The power of ‘being within’ – heard and seen, making a positive contribution to the creative economy and their communities; these are the rewards and responsibilities of the graduates of the three-year BASA Debut Programme. The 24 graduates were recently celebrated in a ceremony they collectively chose to have in Cape Town at the end of November 2022.
This was the second iteration of the programme Debut Programme that BASA launched in partnership with the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, to offer young emerging creatives (artpreneurs) the skills, funding and training to make a profitable livelihood from their artistic talents.
As the programme closes, it is now up to these Debut graduates to evolve the skills, network and entrepreneurial instincts that have carried them so far. We look forward to seeing how the next generation of artpreneurs celebrates their success.
Tiyani Obedience Sithole
Performing arts | Limpopo
Tiyani is from Malamulele in Limpopo and has been recognised as a jack-of-all-trades. He is a radio presenter by profession, an MC, and an entrepreneur. Tiyani is known for hosting interviews with the greatest talents South Africa has to offer and prides himself on the good conversations he leads them in on air. His MC skills have earned him opportunities to share the stage with South Africa’s prominent artists at events all over Limpopo. His business specialises in social media marketing, providing solutions to the new problems the world faces.
Laycenther Mogale Sedibe
Poetry/Literature | Northern Cape
Mogale Sedibe is a Northern Cape author and poet. He released his spoken-word album Maru in 2020 and two of his children’s literature picture storybooks have been published with Cadbury and the Puku Foundation. He is the founder of Street Philosophy Poetry and works as a theatre practitioner and art activist. He was nominated for Best Poet at the 2020/2021 Northern Cape Awards.
Sibusiso Molefe
Fine/Visual arts | Eastern Cape
Sibusiso Molefe, aka C tutor J, is a musician, entrepreneur and family man. He is a proud product of Sada in the Eastern Cape with a long career in the media industry. Sibusiso started in community radio, newspaper writing, and editing local news and producing radio shows before joining the team of the twice-nominated drama series Uhambo Lwethu. He then moved on to the nationwide syndicated educational drama Side-by-Side, as part of the SABC radio team of TruFM. Sibusiso has been an MC involved in community and artist development work. His latest company, BANG Entertainment, has a vision to become the leader in new media, livestreaming, and music publishing and distribution. For BASA, he has conceived a concept called SMMEC, where he will guide SMMEs from the Eastern Cape to become sustainable businesses. His unique selling point is that more than 90% of business concepts are in English and his paid content will break these down in IsiXhosa and township slang.
Laice Sanele Mathebula
Multi-disciplinary | Gauteng
Laice Sanele Mathebula is a visual and performing artist based in Heidelberg. Their business deals with graphic, visual and editorial design and is unique in how each service is customised to suit individual and business needs.
Mpho Walter Hlahane
Performing arts | Free State
Mpho is from QwaQwa and is a performing artist and stage manager of theatre productions. He is also an Arts and Culture Trust peer adjudicator. His venture promotes live music performance in his community, as well as in South Africa at large. Mpho’s organisation is the only one in QwaQwa that provides live music and access to an affordable recording studio.
Blessed Maloma
Music | Limpopo
Blessed Maloma is an up-and-coming artist, producer and DJ from Sekhukhune in Limpopo. He runs Bee Music Records, a label that supports young artists and producers from rural areas. Known as Beezy Bee, Blessed is a self-taught music producer, musician and DJ with a natural ear for music. He draws inspiration from different types of music, ranging from jazz to hip-hop to kwaito. The types of music he produces includes house music and hip-hop instrumentals. As a DJ, he has played at local events as well as on radio station SK 98.7 FM. He prides himself on making and playing good music. Blessed’s love for music began when he was a child. He learned how to play the keyboard and continued pursuing his ambition to become a musician when he got computer software to make music. He then went on to produce free instrumentals for local artists. He has been working on his own music, which is still to be released under his own record label Bee Music Records. He also enjoys helping other artists to bring out the best in their work.
Nonhlanhla Setheni
Multi-disciplinary | Gauteng
Nonhlanhla Setheni (Nonny) is a handcrafting creative who designs and makes accessories such as earrings, waist beads, chokers or necklaces, anklets, head crowns, bangles and bags. She loves writing poetry and music, capturing her thoughts on how she views the world. Nonny is also a freelance filmmaker who enjoys working with the camera and taking beautiful moving shots. She grew up in the north of Johannesburg and is currently based in Diepsloot. She uses her skills to teach others, and all her material is affordable.
Africa Zwelibanzi Ngubane
Poetry/Literature | Mpumalanga
Africa Zwelibanzi Ngubane is 26 years old and was born and raised in the urban neighbourhood of Kwaguqa, eMalahleni. He is the founder and executive director at Notepad Poetry. He has worked as a theatre script writer, an events coordinator, freelance copywriter and facilitator. He has a decade of experience in the creative writing and performance industry, working for powerhouses such as Siyavutha Theatre Group, performing for the eMalahleni Poetry Night, and appearing on platforms such as Poetry Africa, CSP National Slam and the Dry Sessions, amongst others. As a creative entrepreneur, he believes in the literary art’s capacity to inspire change and to sustain it.
Kganya Mogashoa
Fine/Visual arts | Gauteng
Born in 1994, Kganya Mogashoa is the founder of Koranges Art (Pty) Ltd. She lives and works in Randburg, Johannesburg. She studied Interior Design at the University of Johannesburg (2013–2016), obtaining her BTech Honours Degree. She quit her full-time job in 2019 to pursue her passion for visual art. Kganya is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist who primarily creates mixed media and oil paintings. She focuses on portraiture, and her artwork is inspired by people in and around her life, her journey with God, her momentous life events, and the desire to resolve social ills closely related to women and mental health. Koranges Art paintings are being translated to stationery supplies and corporate gifting packages, which will highlight educational messages around how people should respond to their mental health in healthy ways.
Samukelisiwe Dawn Maseko
Performing arts | KwaZulu-Natal
Sami Maseko is an artist and theatre-maker. She is from Newcastle in Northern KwaZulu-Natal, and when she is not creating new characters on stage or in a frame, or giving voice to stories and text, she is developing movement and drama skills in young people using her training and experience. What makes Seko Arts unique is the focus on cross-pollination and the sharing of ideas, facilitating expression in an experimental space with the purpose of creating new work by ensembles and individuals. The aim is to act as a conduit for talent to a network of arts and culture organisations.
Obed De Koker
Performing arts | Free State
Obed De Koker is a theatre practitioner and a community art developer from Bloemfontein. He is the Director of Fresh From the Garden, a performing arts academy that boldly states, ‘We pick you up before you know it’. Fresh From the Garden deals with performing arts and uses applied theatre as a vehicle for their services. Obed’s striking achievement was his attainment of his Skills Development Facilitation accreditation with the ETDP SETA, before he went on to produce multiple art workshops in his community. He is currently a liaison officer at the Trevor Barlow Library Committee and has been part of the creative team implementing computer courses for unemployed youth.
Rapelang Gilbert Antony
Performing arts | Northern Cape
Rapelang Gilbert Antony is a live music performer from a village just outside the small town of Kuruman in the Northern Cape. He serves his clients with live entertainment, audio and video solutions for their events and parties. His unique selling point is the way the business conducts its services, playing instruments that provide raw sound, carried out with a professionalism that mirrors a live concert experience.
Nthateng Sethemane
Film/Digital media | Limpopo
Nthateng Sethemane is a queer photographer, videographer, entertainment writer/blogger and content creator. Nthateng, who was born and raised in Mankweng in Limpopo, runs a small media company called PLAKA Media. Based in Polokwane, it provides media services to companies, events and individuals such as photography, videography, online advertising and promotions, content creation and updating CVs. They offer several types of photographic services, such as creative photography and black-and-white photography.
Leonard Matsobane Mphahlele
Multi-disciplinary | Northern Cape
Leonard Matsobane Mphahlele is a music producer, vocalist, graphic designer, music video editor and fashion brander. He designs T-shirts, hoodies, caps etc as well as textiles and car branding.
Luyanda Fika Qiniso Mkhungo
Multi-disciplinary | KwaZulu-Natal
OD_Boi_D has a gift for formulating on-the-fly musical pieces. He excels in versatility, with exceptional works in composition and sound engineering. He is complemented by his team of composers, producers and artists, all of whom are responsible for his dominance in the world of music. His passion and energy are felt with every performance. Leveraging on his ability to ‘hammer on, hammer off’ words, his voice is a technical instrument, and one that he uses to produce music that entertains a wide demographic. Over Dope on Self Excellence (Pty) Ltd is a production and content management company operating locally, which supports artists, producers and studios in resourcing and execution. The company serves as a content producer, and assists with positioning and channel management, through financial analysis of the market it serves.
Xolane Marman
Performing arts | Western Cape
Xolane Marman is a young stage director and opera singer from Knysna. She is currently based in Cape Town, running her own organisation, called SA Operatunity. Xolane completed her undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Music Performance and Opera from the University of Cape Town, and further undertook postgraduate studies in education. Under the umbrella of SA Operatunity, Xolane’s aim is to create opera performance opportunities for young and emerging opera artists around South Africa. She and her team run one stage performance and one community development project every year in the Cape Town area. They have been creating jobs for South Africa’s music sector since 2016. Their productions and projects are very different to traditional opera productions as they are more focused on promoting collaborations, utilising minimal budgets and also linking their members with international networks for further development. SA Operatunity stages productions that address current economic, politics and social affairs.
Bularah Chopo
Performing arts | Free State
Bularah Chopo is the manager of Bapala Creative Arts and Services, a production house in 1043 Riverside Youth Centre in the Eastern Free State. The company offers the services of creative practitioners, along with theatre space, creative classes, artistic programmes, a mini cinema, as well as administration services for artists. It is the only town theatre in the Eastern Free State that supplies this particular suite of services.
Xolile Rita Mabuza
Craft | Mpumalanga
Xolile Mabuza is a young emerging artist from a village called Msogwaba outside Mbombela in Mpumalanga. She is the founder of Tendalo Trading. As a designer, she specialises in recycling rubber tubes from cars, tractors, trucks and buses to create environmentally friendly waterproof bags. Xolile also uses the tubes to make accessories. All her carefully crafted products are vegan friendly.
Tsholofelo Seleke
Multi-disciplinary | North West
Tsholofelo Seleke is a creative with a background in Fine Arts. After completing her Honours degree, she began exploring ideas around access, narrative and collectivity. She is working on completing her Master’s in Fine Arts. She has also freelanced as a graphic designer and writer. From an artistic background, she is able to create visually stimulating imagery that is conceptually stimulated and caters to the needs of her clients.
Tshepo Mothudi
Music | North West
Tshepo Mothudi, AKA Play De Master, is a self-taught DJ, composer, producer, and graphic designer from Khuma in Matlosana. He is the founder of Limited Play, which helps to monetise his Play De Master brand profile and offers graphic design and branding solution to local brands, organisations and businesses. His venture offers tailormade, high-quality products and services at a reasonable price. His passion for the work he does, his communication skills, and his dedication to his business set him apart.
Lucy Mbali
Poetry/Literature | Eastern Cape
Lucy Mbali, aka Lucy Impondokazi, is an ambitious woman from the Ntlanezwe village in the Eastern Cape. Lucy is a prominent and award-winning isiXhosa poet, and the author of Umzila KaTambo, an isiXhosa poetry anthology. She is the owner of X-Mobile Studios, the recording studio she established with the help of BASA. The recording studio offers tracking, mastering, mixing, beats sales and music distribution. The studio is both in-house and mobile, which means artists can be recorded wherever they feel most comfortable.
Lance Horne
Music | Western Cape
Lance Lightyear is a queer body, singer, songwriter, lyricist and MC, born and raised in Cape Town. They use music to actively denounce the systematic oppression of LGBTQ+ bodies and brings forth queer-evolution, queer-expression and queer-freedom most prominently in music fashion and visual imagery. The creative concept/business they would like to create is a studio/media hub/record label offering quality sound, recording, beats production and engineering that meets industry standards and with everything needed for an industry-approved media kit. This will include bios, images, videos, interviews, licensing, registrations and copyrighting material. This service will be sold to various artists in their communities with no discrimination, along with physical and digital copies to customers. They will also host quarterly and annual events to drive conversation/networks and capital; create workshops that allow the sharing of information to artists pursuing a career in music and establish a record label that allows the artist to determine their own success.
Shikombiso Desiree Bila
Multi-disciplinary | Limpopo
Shikombiso Bila is a 30-year-old crochet artist who was born in the Nghezimani village outside of Malamulele in Limpopo. She is a Tshwane University of Technology diploma graduate in Information Technology, and the founder and owner of the brand Maxelostyle, specialising in crochet clothes and xibelani made in wool.
Gugulethu Mlombo
Film/Digital media | Mpumalanga
Gugulethu Mlombo is from eMalahleni in Mpumalanga, and the proud owner of Blacbrush Productions. The company offers unique integrated marketing solutions, professional photography and motion graphics. As the saying goes, “First impressions last”, and Blacbrush believes that how you present yourself can either break you or make you. Blacbrush connects people through creative thinking and innovative strategies, helping clients build long-lasting, authentic relationships with their customers. Its methodology is to listen, think, converse and measure. The company believes creative concepts and strategies bring tangible results, and the team does this though art.
The inaugural event for the MTN x UJ New Contemporary Awards was held on 25 November 2022 at UJ Art Gallery with artworks created by all four finalists, guided and curated by Khanya Mashabela. Inga Somdyala was announced as the winner that evening.
Winner: Inga Somdyala
Born in Queenstown, Eastern Cape, Inga Somdyala is a visual artist living and working in Cape Town. Through his work, he explores both the personal and socio-political, navigating the complexities faced by the post-apartheid generation. Somdyala works in a variety of media including print, installation, performance, and video, creating an evocative and tactile response to South Africa’s visual identity and history, as it intersects with his own lived experience. He completed his MFA at the Michaelis School of Fine Art in 2019.
Finalist: Natalie Paneng
Natalie Paneng’s artistic practice makes use of both her self-taught digital skills and theatre background. She explores what it means to have an online presence, the personas we develop online and how the Internet and its algorithms control and influence us and our perceived reality. Paneng is a self-described world-builder and sees her growing practice as a way to navigate, share and archive imagined, and alternative realities brought to life through digital artistic process. She received her BA in Dramatic Arts from the University of Witwatersrand in 2018.
Finalist: Thandiwe Msebenzi
Thandiwe Msebenzi has a lens-based practice in which she recreates memories and dreamscapes, using a visual culture which is often specific to her familial home in the rural Eastern Cape. She is currently working on a series titled Radical Makaza, a series of narratives about her aunt’s journey of moving to Cape Town and finding independence during apartheid. The photographs and videos explore the subtle ways that Black women’s experiences have been rendered invalid or invisible within the overarching South African historical narrative, and the radical ways that they have resisted this erasure. In 2014, she completed her BFA from Michaelis School of Fine Art.
Finalist: Callan Grecia
Callan Grecia was born in Durban and currently lives and works in George. His artistic style is a synthesis of old and new, simultaneously taking visual cues from television and cubism, online visual culture and the sentimental styles of comic book and outsider artists in the 1990s. Rather than attempting to justify the continued relevance of painting, Grecia is preoccupied with explorations of ‘bad’ painting, using its associative power to seduce the audience through a globalised, millennial nostalgia. In 2017 he completed his MFA in painting at Rhodes University in Makhanda, South Africa.
Khanya Mashabela was awarded the curatorship of MTN X UJ New Contemporary Awards and since her appointment earlier this year, she has been formulating her research, selection of artists and curatorial vision for the inaugural event.
Curator: Khanya Mashabela
Khanya Mashabela was born in Johannesburg and is an art administrator, art historian, critic, lecturer, and poet. For New Contemporaries 2022, under the working title Object, Mashabela navigates the premise that, given the speed and breadth of contemporary culture, definitive statements about what it means to be an artist in the South African context will quickly be made redundant. She holds a BA (Honours) in Art History from the Michaelis School of Fine Art.
The Legacy Panel consists of four previous MTN New Contemporaries curators. They verify the curator’s research and proposal of the selected artists and act as adjudicators when selecting the winning artist for the Gala event in November.
Legacy panel convenor: Melissa Goba
Soweto-born Melissa Goba is an artist, writer, curator and producer who has worked in various capacities in the visual arts industry. Goba has sat on various competitions panels including the Public Art Programme Commission initiated by the City of Johannesburg through the local department of Arts, Sports and Recreation, as well as the National Arts Festival committee. She held the position of Chairperson of the Arts and Culture Trust.
As an artist, Goba uses abstraction to process significant events and dreams with a view to understanding and considering an alternative perspective to South African narratives. She holds a postgraduate Fine Arts Degree from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Legacy panel member: Khwezi Gule
Khwezi Gule was the 2006 MTN New Contemporaries Curator. Gule is a curator and writer based in Johannesburg and was Chief Curator at the Soweto Museums which includes, the Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum and the Kliptown Open Air Museum. Prior to that, Gule held the position of curator: contemporary collections at the Johannesburg Art Gallery. He is the current Chief Curator of the Johannesburg Art Gallery.
Legacy panel member: Kathryn Smith
Dr Kathryn Smith was the 2003 MTN New Contemporaries Curator. She is an interdisciplinary visual artist and curator with an extensive exhibitions and publications history. A graduate of visual art and applied science programmes at Wits University (BAFA, MAFA), the University of Dundee (MSc Forensic Art) and Liverpool John Moores University (PhD Forensic Art), she is also trained in forensic facial imaging and advocates for vital pracademic exchange between operational, institutional and research environments. She is a Visiting Research Fellow at Face Lab, LJMU and adjunct curator, A4 Arts Foundation.
Legacy panel member: Nontobeko Ntombela
Nontobeko Ntombela was the 2010 MTN New Contemporaries Curator. She is a lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand, where she currently heads the Art History Department. Ntombela’s research area focuses largely on South African modern and contemporary art with a particular interest in early modern Black women artists. A large part of Ntombela’s career has been working as a curator, producing exhibitions across South Africa and abroad. She has worked as a curator at the Johannesburg Art Gallery (2010-2020), Durban University Art Gallery (2005-2010), BAT Centre (2001-2005), and Art for Humanity (2000-2001), where she produced numerous exhibitions. She has also served in different capacities on several boards and committees over the years.
Legacy panel member: Portia Malatjie
Dr Portia Malatjie was the 2012 MTN New Contemporaries Curator. She is a Senior Lecturer in Visual Cultures at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town. She is Adjunct Curator of Africa and African Diaspora at Tate Modern and holds a PhD in Visual Cultures from Goldsmiths University of London. She is a 2021 American Council of Learned Society’s African Humanities Fellow. She is also co-curator (along with Nontobeko Ntombela) of When Rain Clouds Gather: Black South African Women Artists, 1940 – 2000 (2022 – 2023) at Norval Foundation, Cape Town. Her research looks at African conceptions of Blackness through Africa sonic and spiritual praxes.
The journey towards the staged production of Hlakanyana has undoubtedly been a long and difficult one, but through a growing team of innovative and passionate musicians, theatre-makers, writers and performers, it’s finally made it to the theatre.
25 May – 8 June
Tickets open for the much-anticipated Hlakanyana
To mark the celebration of Africa Day, UJ Arts & Culture and Madevu Entertainment started their run of Hlakanyana The Musical at the UJ Arts Centre (at the Keorapetse William Kgositsile Theatre on the University of Johannesburg’s Kingsway Campus in Auckland Park) on 25 May. The production runs until 8 June.
‘A whirlwind of music and performance’
Lead actor Sandi Dlangalala talks us through Hlakanyana the Musical
Ahead of the production’s opening on Africa Day, 25 May 2022, Creative Feel spoke with the lead actor, Naledi Theatre Award winner Sandisile Dlangalala.
Years in the making:
How Hlakanyana made it to the stage
The journey towards the staged production of Hlakanyana has undoubtedly been a long and difficult one, but through a growing team of innovative and passionate musicians, theatre-makers, writers and performers, it’s finally made it to the theatre. In light of Hlakanyana’s current run, we thought we’d trace the innovative journey of this multifaceted production.
Ahead of the Festival, taking place from 23 June – 3 July in the town of Makhanda, we’re sharing a few of the shows we’re looking forward to, selected from the Curated Programme and the Fringe Programme, and compiled by Creative Feel’s Editor, David Mann.
23 – 25 June
Kamphoer
We’ve had Kamphoer on our radar since it took Johannesburg by storm. If you’re looking to start the Festival on a memorable note, add Kamphoer to your list. Performance by Sandra Prinsloo, directed by Lara Foot.
25 June
Bongeziwe
The internationally renowned Bongeziwe Mabandla will be performing in Makhanda for one night only at this year’s Festival. We recommend booking your tickets in advance.
27 & 29 June
Hamlet
Shakespeare, puppetry and Andrew Buckland at the Rhodes Theatre? Sounds like the NAF. The play promises to be ‘an intense, high-energy interpretation of Hamlet focused on the heart of Hamlet’s personal conflict.’
23 June – 3 July
Standard Bank Young Artists
The works of the Standard Bank Young Artists (SBYA) are always a highlight of the Festival. This year, we’re recommending you try and see as many of them as possible. The SBYAs can help give us a better idea of where contemporary South African dance, music, jazz, theatre, visual art and performance art is at.
28 – 30 June & 1 July
Kontroller (Fringe)
A considerable team of dancers, choreographers and directors have come together to produce Kontroller. The work, which employs hip hop and pantsula to drive its narrative, ‘challenges the status quo of our political control.’
23 – 25 June
POP
The dance work draws on ‘the mental and physical imprints of traumas influenced by popular culture.’ Thamsanqa Majela’s work is always worth seeing, and we’re excited to see what Matthieu Nieto brings to the stage.
30 June – 2 July
Delela
The Tiisetso Mashifane wa Noni-penned play only kicks off in the second half of the Festival, but we’re willing to bet it’s worth planning your trip around.
27 – 29 June
seven ways to say goodbye
seven ways to say goodbye takes South Africa’s hard lockdown in 2020 and the looting across KwaZulu-Natal in 2021 as conceptual points of departure. Liliane Loots choreographs the Flatfoot Dance Company artists in this dance work about contemporary humanity and the relationships we form.
28 – 29 June & 1 – 2 July
His Ten Fingers! (Fringe)
The play is about a character who’s grappling with depression due to an event that took place two decades ago. If you’re also interested in discovering what emerges when theatre and opera crosspollinate, we’ll see you there.
23 – 27 June
Phinda Ubuyele (Fringe)
Grappling with memory, time, trauma and history, the play traverses various moments in time to tell its story, and we’re interested to see how it all plays out.
23 – 25 June
Bloke & His American Bantu
A play written by Siphiwo Mahala and directed by Sello Maake kaNcube? Count us in. The two-man play reimagines the camaraderie between a writer from Sophiatown and an activist from Harlem.
24 & 25 June
deus::ex::machina
Darkroom Contemporary founding artistic director Louise Coetzer merges live performance with virtual audience participation. The performance includes music by this year’s Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner for Music, Cara Stacey.
3 July
Eastern Cape Philharmonic Orchestra
If you’re looking for a reason to stick around until the last day of the Festival, this is it. Soloists Gloria Bosman, Timothy Moloi and Monde Msutwana will pay tribute to some of South Africa’s musical greats, including Vusi Mahlasela, Alan Silinga, Johnny Clegg, Miriam Makeba, Brenda Fassie and Mafikizolo.
29 – 30 June & 1 – 2 July
Is Everything Connected? (Fringe)
A show with a short and sharp premise that explores the impact of climate change on society’s most marginalised. If the music credits are anything to go by, it should be an interesting and multifaceted dance piece.
23 – 25 June
RAF Collective (Fringe)
There’s never a shortage of good music at the Festival. RAF Collective, an ensemble led by drummer, composer and educator Zolani Rafuza are one of the acts on our list.
Five women from a variety of backgrounds make up this year’s Distell National Playwright Competition finalists. They include actors, journalists and activists. The award recognises unpublished scriptwriting talent and one of these finalists (chosen from a whopping 245 entries) will present their winning work at the 2023 National Arts Festival.
Scout Fynn
An actor and graduate of the Market Theatre Laboratory. She is currently working as a curatorial intern at the Voices of Women Museum that focuses on the retrieval and preservation of memory through narrative and embroidery.
Nokuthula Mkwanazi
An actor who is featured in SABC1 dramedy Makoti, she is a gender-based violence activist and a clown, who holds an MA in dramatic arts from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Stephanie Jenkins
An academic, actor and director with a PhD from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in museum theatre. She considers theatre an important medium for exploring the past.
Sibongakonke Mama
A journalist with an MA in creative writing from Rhodes University and an honours in investigative journalism from the University of the Witwatersrand. As a journalist, she has been published by AmaBhungane and Mail & Guardian, with work scheduled to appear in New Coin and Nature.
Nkamogeleng Lebeloane
A journalist and self-taught singer, dancer and writer. She sees theatre as a catalyst for introspection and wants it to be used as a tool to improve the lives of women and children.