New signatures in culture
WINNER: KGANYE’S ANIMATED FILM WINS R100 000
Family narratives speak about SA history.
Johannesburg-based artist Lebohang Kganye, 27, is the winner of the 2017 Sasol New Signatures Art Competition. Kganye won the award for her animated film Ke Sale Teng (I’m Still Here).
The film examines how family photo albums no longer have a fixed narrative but instead open us to reinterpret our past and even interrogate our need to preserve a certain narrative.
“Sometimes we rely on the family photo album as a way to understand what family is meant to be,” said Kganye.
“What we often land up with is a grouping of images that have been constructed and, perhaps, do not account at all for the histories and memories that are connected to that album.”
Through the use of silhouette cutouts of family members and other props in a diorama, Ke Sale Teng confronts the conflicting stories which
are told in multiple ways, even by the same person.
As the winner of Sasol New Signatures, Kganye walked away with a cash prize of R100 000 and the opportunity to have a solo exhibition in 2018 at the Pretoria Art Museum.
Last year’s winner, Zyma Amien, has a solo exhibition, titled Real Lives and Ordinary Objects, which opens at the Pretoria Art Museum today.
Amien’s solo exhibition examines experiences of garment workers in post-apartheid South Africa and asks questions about the impact of the global village and why workers remain predominantly female.
“My interest in this project is rooted in my direct relationship with the many women who work as seamstresses in the South African garment and textile industry.
“The demographics of the clothing and textile industry have been shaped by the segregationist policies of apartheid,” she said.
This year’s Sasol New Signatures theme was Be discovered.
“The works of the winners and finalists have lived up to the history and intention of the competition and showcases what South African artists are capable of,” said Charlotte Mokoena, Sasol’s executive president for corporate affairs and human resources. – Citizen reporter