Miné Kleynhans (34), a project manager at the University of the Free State Art Gallery, has been announced as the winner of the 2024 Sasol New Signatures Art Competition for her installation piece titled ‘Meditations on Resentment’. Kleynhans takes home a R100 000 cash prize and an opportunity to hold a solo exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum in 2025. The winning piece, ‘Meditations on Resentment’, imagines an intimate personal ritual that sanctions the experience and expression of resentment. This interactive work invites viewers to engage in a ritual with this secret and suppressed emotion by imaginatively and temporarily lifting the constraints that typically govern how resentment is managed. When encountering the artwork, participants are presented with the shiny, indented surface of the work, a brush with a sharpened end and a bowl of sand.
The ritual tasks participants to kneel in front of the work and pour the sand onto the indented surface. They are then to write their resentments in the sand with the sharpened end of the brush, before sweeping the sand away and out of the closest cavity until the sharp, hard kernel of a brass thorn is revealed. The Sasol New Signatures Art Competition set new records in 2024, affirming its crucial role in South Africa’s visual arts landscape. This year, an unprecedented 1013 submissions were received from across South Africa, with 137 outstanding works making it to the final exhibition.
According to Elton Fortuin, Sasol Vice President: Group Communications and Brand Management, this year has shown works originated from a shared creative spirit that reflects our identity as a nation and as individuals. Pfunzo Sidogi, Chairperson of the Sasol New Signatures Competition, said: “In the five years I have served as the competition’s chair, this year’s final judging round was probably the toughest we’ve facilitated thus far. Among other things, words like ‘subtly compelling,’ ‘poignant,’ ‘technically virtuosic,’ ‘majestic work,’ ‘wonderful technique,’ and ‘carefully modelled’ were used by the judges to describe the nature of the artworks in the winner’s circle. Sasol has been the proud sponsor of the New Signatures competition for 34 years. Sasol helps amplify the voices of emerging artists, offering them a platform to share their stories with a wider audience.
Tandabantu Nathaniel Jongikhaya Matola (28), a Fine Arts student at Walter Sisulu University in the Eastern Cape, was crowned runner-up and awarded R25 000 for his work titled ‘Ukuncikelela’ (to hold on/endure). The piece is based on the reality that black South African communities, especially in impoverished rural villages, are often forced to keep domestic items longer than they wish. The idea for this artwork came when Matola noticed that the dishcloth at his home was in a bad state. As an artist, this prompted Matola to collect dishcloths from his village in exchange for new ones. He then combined these dishcloths with clay and underglaze to depict the homes Matola visited. The process of weaving of clay and cloth in itself symbolises ukuncikelela. PVA glue is used to hold the cloths in shape while also reinforcing the ukungcola (dirtiness) from the overuse of the cloth.
Five artists were recognised in The Merit Award, each receiving R10 000. The artists are: Henrico Paul Greyling (23) for ‘Through here a flower passed’; Snelihle Asanda Maphumulo (22) for ‘Umnikelo’; Themba Mkhangeli (29) for ‘Ubushushu Bekhaya’ (The warmth of home); Bonginkosi Liyo Mkhatshwa (28)’Traditional innovation (Unity & Innovative water carrier)’; as well as Juandré van Eck (24)for ‘Waters of life’.
Nosiviwe Matikinca (23), the winner of the 2023 Sasol New Signatures Art Competition, will hold her first solo exhibition, titled Ukungalingani Kwezemfundo (Educational Inequality), alongside the Sasol New Signatures 2024 exhibition. Her award-winning work in 2023 highlighted the challenges faced by learners from underprivileged backgrounds in public schools, particularly focusing on the disparities in basic necessities like school shoes. The Sasol New Signatures exhibition featuring the work of the 2024 winners and finalists takes place at the Pretoria Art Museum on the corner of Francis Baard and Wessels street, Arcadia Park, Pretoria, from 5 September until Sunday 3 November 2024. The museum is open on Tuesdays to Sundays from 10:00 to 17:00 and it is closed on Mondays and public holidays.
