Competition Winners

I am a zealous visual artist who recently obtained my Diploma in Design and Studio. My area of interest and what I look to investigate through my art is who we become and who we are through what and how we learn, how we assume roles through labels that we assign to ourselves and those that ociety assigns to us, identities, gender, sex sexuality and other related topics. I find it taboo how sex education is approached by society and make art that attempts to start a conversation around that.

I love the arts in all their various factions and one of my biggest achievements to date is having started a visual and performance art project for the children in my community called Madutla. I believe such initiatives enable self expression and a space for young people to explore all possibilities of becoming. Born and raised in the small town of Thaba Nchu, I always used visual art to navigate who I am and believe that it is important to me to create a space were children can experience what I have in creative expression.

I am a black queer, Christian, artist with a keen interest in learning all I can about the spaces I occupy and sharing my experience with others so as to aid in making society more inclusive.

Gabriele Jacobsis is in his final year of completing an MFA from Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town. Over the last two years, he has been working from Rosendal, Free State. His work predominantly makes use of animal imagery to discuss contemporary concerns - both environmental and societal. 

Jacobs explores examples from nature which contradict the heteronormative lens through which contemporary society has been framed by western hegemony. The use of animal subjects to discuss queer identity contextualises a non-heterosexual lifestyle as a part of nature, rather than an anomaly.  Through his sculptural pieces he aims to celebrate and honour the act of self-acceptance and queer love. In 2020 Gabriele was featured in the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, as part of a presentation by the Tatjana Pieters Gallery.

Mfundo Mbali Joseph was born in in Rouxville, South Africa. Mfundo started painting from his early years at the Primary School, after he completed his education he continued working as a full-time artist. He predominately works on paintings using oil paint as medium, and has sold his art nationally and internationally in countries like Germany, Australia, USA and Switzerland.

His motto is “where there is poverty there is art, where there is Community there is Inspiration”. He has visited other countries like China for a study tour in 2015 where he made a name for himself during Macufe Arts Festival with his painting works Titled “Khoisan Woman Washing” where he was recognised for his art and won the second prize in 2013-2015 with a painting Titled “Bani’s Guitar”. He also got invited to exhibit in New York 2018 At Dacia Gallery under a theme "Painting the American Dream" where his work was later sold after an exhibition at an auction in Boston.

He paints everyday life scenes for which he draws inspiration from his rural home town. He walks around his town to hunt for scenes and takes snapshots to paint later on in his studio. After he completed his school education he continued working as a full-time artist.

His work is currently exhibited at the Art Bank of South Africa, and he has also participated in the Art Bank of SA's programmes.  He is also participating in the Harambe SACO Programme.

Born in Pretoria in 1998, Miró van der Vloed has spent time between Durban, Pretoria, Cape Town and has spent the majority of the last two years in the Free State.

In 2020, he completed a BaFa (with distinction) from Michaelis School of Fine Arts in Cape Town, with a focus on printmaking and sculpture.

Van der Vloed’s interdisciplinary approach includes the careful combination and transformation of found objects and materials. This intentional deconstruction and reshaping suggests the potential for challenging the destructive hegemonic systems- transmuting them in ways that leave them open to the infinite potential for change.  van der Vloed explores the dynamics of home-making and finding one’s place in the world. He became interested in impermanence as a state of being as a result of often moving provinces as a child.

He is currently working in ceramics as his primary medium and has created the series of plates and platters with a focus on queer issues.

Jakie Ntavhanyeni Madide is a 24 years old self-taught mixed media artist born in Tshiungani (niani), Limpopo. 

Currently he is studying computer networking at the Central University of Technology in Bloemfontein. He uses many different media to create his artwork such as charcoal, ballpoint pens, graphite, pastels and acrylic paint. His drawings reside at the intersection of landscapes, the realistic and the abstract.