We are excited to announce the New Breed Art Competition judges for 2021.
Artists Usha Seejarim and Wessel van Huyssteen along with Nonto Msomi are tasked with discovering and awarding this year's finalists, and eventually the prestigious winners.
Seejarim ives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa. Recently her site-specific artwork, Sounds of Sibikwa, was nominated for Design Indaba’s Most Beautiful Object in South Africa award. She also presented her solo, Angel of the house at SMAC Gallery Cape Town in 2021 and in September 2020, she presented another solo exhibition, Vessel of the Fish at Witte de With Centre for Contemporary Arts in Rotterdam,Netherlands. Her work forms part of public and private collections such as the Iziko South African National Gallery (SANG); the South African Foundation For Contemporary Art (SAFFCA), the Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG), The Constitutional Court Collection and the Fondazione Fiera Milan, Italy among others.
Van Huyssteen, active as an artist, community arts educator, lecturer, curator and film maker since 1986, has recently held three solo exhibitions and attended three international residencies as invited artist. He completed his Masters of Art in Fine Arts with distinction at Wits University in 2017. He has collaborated in several South African group exhibitions and his works are in the South African National Art Bank collection in Bloemfontein, Glo’Art International collection in Maastricht, Belgium as well as the Philippe and Kinga de Chandelar Petro Collection in Hungary. In 2021 he was invited to a Nirox Foundation artist residency. His work is currently on display and will be installed as part of the permanent collection.
Msomi is the Project Manager for the Art Bank of South Africa, ahd hails from KZN where she graduated from the Durban University of Technology with qualifications in Fine Arts and Logistics Management. She has extensive experience in the art world having worked as a curator and educational resource developer at the Amazwi Abesifazane Museum, visual arts coordinator, curator and facilitator at the BAT Centre Trust, the KZN regional coordinator of Visual Arts Network of South Africa (VANSA). She also took on the roles of coordinating the Global Village, Youth Programme, and the Cultural Activities for the International AIDS Society.
Learn more about them here.