Competition Winners

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Overall Winner

Nkululeko Nkebe

Living in Bloemfontein, Nkululeko is studying towards a National Diploma in Fine Art at the Central University of Technology (CUT) and majors in mixed media and installation art.

At Reamohetse High School where he matriculated from in 2009, he also studied music, visual culture and design.

He is very passionate about art, music, nature, landscapes and gardening.

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Runner Up Winner

Katlego Mogoera

Katlego Gomolemo Mogoera is an 18 year old artist/photographer studying at the Central University of Technology. She has been interested in art from a very young age. When she is not taking photos or creating some kind of artwork she is stuck in the kitchen trying some vegan recipes and she also enjoys reading. She is very passionate about art and has never imagined herself doing anything other than that. She is currently working on a photo-series called “do I not deserve love?”

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Merit Award

Petra Schutte

Petra Schutte completed and received her BA Fine Arts degree from the University of the Free State with a portfolio of studio artworks which received a distinction. In 2015 and 2016 she received merit prizes for best Fine Arts student in her year group. She has exhibited and participated in several annual student exhibitions at the Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery in 2015 whilst studying. In 2016 and 2017, some of her artworks were selected as one of the top 40 in the Phatshoane Henney New Breed Art Competition.

Her work has also been selected for the Sasol New Signatures competition as one of the top 100 artworks in 2017 and 2018. In 2018 Schutte took part in the Johannesburg Turbine Art Fair (TAF) which places emphasis on new work and promoting emerging South African artists. Schutte forms part of the Free State Arts Collective (FSAC), an initiative to create a platform for Free State artists.

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Merit Award

Xola Sello

Xola Sello was born and bred in a creatively driven family in Botshabelo in the Free State. His passion for art became clearly visible while he was at Reamohetse Secondary School. Growing up in an environment full of creativity and people who like to explore, kick started his career in becoming a visual artist. Most of the works that he prefers to do entails the spirit of confidence, economic issues and not being critical towards one another.

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Public Choice Award

Katlego Mogoera

Katlego Gomolemo Mogoera is an 18 year old artist/photographer studying at the Central University of Technology. She has been interested in art from a very young age. When she is not taking photos or creating some kind of artwork she is stuck in the kitchen trying some vegan recipes and she also enjoys reading. She is very passionate about art and has never imagined herself doing anything other than that. She is currently working on a photo-series called “do I not deserve love?”

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Judges

Karen Brusch

Karen Brusch has been passionate about the arts industry for over twenty five years, having worked in creative spaces all her life - from advertising and education, to feature film and documentaries. Brusch worked as Manager of Gallery MOMO and was promoted to Director of MOMO Johannesburg some 6 years later. During her ten years at Gallery MOMO, Karen managed the careers of numerous international artists such as Mary Sibande, Ayana V. Jackson, Blessing Ngobeni, Florine Demosthene, Andrew Tshabangu, Roger Ballen, among others. Karen has also run large-scale projects both nationally and internationally such as Art Fairs, Museum and Gallery Exhibitions, as well as Art and Jazz Festivals. Following a year-long sabbatical, Karen recently set up the Free State Art Collective with the intention of creating visibility and opportunities nationwide for Visual Artists from the Free State.

Pauline Gutter

This Free State-based South African painter and intermedia artist was born in 1980. She obtained her B.A. Degree in Fine Arts (cum laude for painting) at the University of the Free State. She was awarded Honours Colours in Arts and Culture from the same university. She is the winner of the prestigious 2013 ABSA L`Atelier competition. She was also awarded the Helgaard Steyn Award for painting in 2011. In 2012 she received the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans Award. Gutter`s work forms part of the following museum and corporate collections: Bibliothèque nationale de France (France), Luciano Benetton Collection (Italy), Oliewenhuis Art Museum, University of Stellenbosch, North-West University, University of the Free State, William Humphreys permanent collection, MTN Foundation, Standard Bank, Sanlam, ABSA Corporate Collection, ATKV, Glen Carlou and the War Museum of the Boer Republics.

Lawrence Lemaoana

Lawrence Lemaoana studied for a Bachelors of Fine Art at the University of Johannesburg where he received his B-Tech Degree majoring in Fine Arts. Lemaoana is currently reading for his Master’s degree at the Wits School of Art. Lemaoana is a junior lecturer in Visual Art at UNISA’s Art History, Visual Arts & Musicology Department. His body of work has, as its departure point, a fascination with the role of the mass media in present-day South Africa. The power of the media to act as didactic tool or propagandistic weapon, and the power of the media to reveal and shape the psyche, or group consciousness of the people, is taken up in Lemaoana’s work with the artist’s trademark cynical satire.

Dr Same Mdluli

Same Mdluli is curator at the Standard Bank Gallery. She holds a PhD in History of Art, MA in Arts and Culture Management from Wits University and a B-Tech degree in Fine Arts (cum laude) from the University of Johannesburg. She has worked as an administrator at the Goodman Gallery and projects in both Cape Town and Johannesburg. She has participated in various exhibitions, conferences locally and internationally and won some art awards. She has also participated in a number of international residencies including being invited as a Junior Research Scholar at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles and a participant at the Diversitas Summer School in Oldenburg, Germany. This was followed by an invitation as guest researcher at the Institut National d’histoire de l’art (INHA) in Paris for the ‘Culture Profession’ programme under the department of Art and Globalisation.