CURATOR'S NOTESCURATOR'SNOTES90We sincerely hope thateveryone who views theexhibition will appreciatethe thinking, planningand curation that go intoa complex exhibitionsuch as this.The Pretoria Art Museum’s curatorial team has been responsiblefor curating the Sasol New Signatures exhibition for a numberof years. The challenge each year is always the same, how do wecurate a cohesive exhibition of around 100 completely unique anddisparate artworks from all corners of the country? The processof placing artworks always begins naturally, with some artworkscreating instant visual conversations and complimenting eachother thematically. But then there are those artworks whichare extremely strong as autonomous visual texts, making themdifficult to marry with the rest of the exhibition. The considereduse of the museum’s space enables the curators to createthe necessary connection between artworks in order for theexhibition to flow and engage audiences.Throughout the years, the Sasol New Signatures curatorial teamhas seen creative and thematic trends come and go. There are ofcourse a few artistic narratives that recur such as those dealingwith socio economic factors, the political climate of the time, andthe human condition. This year we saw a newly added theme,namely, the world-wide Covid-19 pandemic, and the focus onCovid that came through in the majority of artworks has resultedin an exhibition that speaks to the spirit of our times. Yet besidesthis fixation with Covid and its aftermath, the entrants for the2021 Sasol New Signatures competition delivered some qualityartworks that made curating this year’s exhibition a joy.Curatorial teamSASOL NEW SIGNATURES • 2021 CATALOGUE
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