SNS CATALOGUE 2023 DIGITAL-compressed - Book - Page 10
COMMENT
National Chairperson
Sasol New Signatures
PFUNZO
SIDOGI
8
"South African women
are torchbearers
of excellence."
As I reflect on the journeys I travelled with my esteemed
colleagues during the organising of the 2023 Sasol New
Signatures art competition, I am haunted by the compelling
and unforgettable narratives embedded in the artworks
produced by the artists who entrust us with their creativity
when submitting it for consideration in the competition.
This year, 765 entries were registered throughout the
country, a substantial drop from the previous year. While
the volume of entries declined, the narrative power of the
artworks was just as loud and profound. Poverty, love,
religion, rape, climate change, displacement, etc., are some
of the individual and collective narratives captured
throughout the hundreds of submissions. Every person
has a story that needs to be told and I am particularly proud
that this competition provides a space for all creative voices
to be heard and seen, especially those by women.
When I was asked about an image of me that I would like
to be inserted in this year’s catalogue, I insisted that the
designers use a photo of Bongi Dhlomo and myself after
being announced as one of the joint winners of the Best
Non-Fiction Monograph Award at the 2023 Humanities and
Social Sciences Awards hosted by the National Institute for
SASOL NEW SIGNATURES • 2023 CATALOGUE
the Humanities and Social Sciences. I received this award
for the book, Mihloti Ya Ntsako: Journeys with the Bongi
Dhlomo Collection, which I wrote over a period of four years
as a researcher for the Bongi Dhlomo Collection, which is housed
at the Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria. Besides
being one of the judges who served in the final round, I elected
to use this image of maBongi and I because it is emblematic
of the power of collaborations across ethnic, gender and
generational boundaries. Befittingly, in April 2023 maBongi was
honoured with the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver by President
Cyril Ramaphosa “For her contribution to the field of arts by
curating creative projects that preserve significant periods
in South African history” (The Presidency 2023). The likes of
Nosiviwe Matikinca, this year’s overall winner of the competition,
and all the other leading black women artists, curators, scholars,
etc., are building on the efforts, sacrifices, and foundation that
maBongi and her fellow women stalwarts laid. In this celebratory
image, maBongi has placed place the gift presented to attendees
of the glamorous gala event on her head in honour of the many
women throughout South Africa, Africa and beyond who carry
the emotional, spiritual and physical loads of their families and
communities on their heads.
This competition is a vital platform for enabling the current and
coming versions of world-historical women artists like Bongi
Dhlomo to thrive. Besides its stoic support for the visual arts,
through its support for women’s football, Sasol is also linked
to two of what I consider to be the greatest sporting milestones
in South Africa this century, Banyana Banyana winning the
Women's Africa Cup of Nations in 2022 and also qualifying for
the second round of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023. These
accolades confirm that South African women are torchbearers
of excellence. I refer to maBongi and Banyana Banyana because
it is not a fluke that this year’s winner, Nosiviwe Matikinca,
is a woman. I acknowledge with heartfelt gratitude the
unwavering sponsorship from Sasol, alongside the logistical
support from Stuttaford Van Lines and the hosts of the
exhibition, the City of Tshwane (Pretoria Art Museum), for
making this project a beacon of transformative progress for
women artists and every other marginalised voice in our society.
I also want the acknowledge my amazing colleagues Nandi
Hilliard, Cate Terblanche and Marina Smithers, the ‘women
power’ that literally makes this competition work.
