Sasol New Signatures Catalogue 2021 - Book - Page 20
MERIT AWARDS
Merit award winner
EUGENE
MTHOBISI
HLOPHE
(Durban)
18
The new crazy normal
Photography
50 cm x 67,5 cm
This artwork comments on the tough conditions of being
a learner and teacher in peri-urban and rural spaces. The
overcrowded classrooms, under delivery of basic services
and poor infrastructure at these schools make it nearly
impossible for teachers to deliver quality education and
high success rates. To create this artwork, the artist took a
photograph from one of his classrooms where disposable
face masks had been reused as chalkboard dusters. This
poetic visual captures the literal and symbolic suffocation
experienced by educators and learners because of Covid-19.
SASOL NEW SIGNATURES • 2021 CATALOGUE
On the one hand, the education of learners from the
peri-urban and rural schools, who are mostly black, was
devastated because learners had no access to data and
limited technology that could help them stay connected
with their educators. And on the other hand, there was an
increase in the number of educators who lost their lives due
to Covid-19.
