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IOL News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- IOL News
Young artists show their talent
Zama Mwandla is a South African surrealist painter whose bold, narrative-driven oil paintings confront the psychological aftermath of rape and the complex journey toward healing. Image: Supplied The Young Artists' Project exhibition is back and will take place at the KZNSA Gallery in Glenwood, Durban from August 22 to September 21. The gallery has a longstanding reputation as a vital incubator for emerging artists in KZN. Initiated in 2002, by then KZNSA curator Storm Janse van Rensburg, The Young Artists' Project 'came out of a desire to create some energy around young artists in the city'. The project was initiated as an annual project designed to stimulate a 'next generation' of artists, where invited young artists work closely with a curator to produce their first solo. The YAP was revived in 2020 with the financial support from Rand Mutual Assurance. While Durban's art-loving public will have an opportunity to share in the work of this year's talented intake during the exhibition period, the project primarily provides a platform for the support of young artists in conceptualising and producing new work. It facilitates mentorship and knowledge exchange between established and emerging artists, encourages critical thinking, peer to peer feedback, and artistic risk-taking, and guides artists in preparing professional material. The exhibition will officially open on Friday August 22 and the artists will host walkabouts on Saturday August 23 from 10am to noon, which are free, and open to the public. In addition, there will be opportunities for school and university groups to visit the gallery and meet with the featured artists. This year's Young Artists' Project edition includes two young artists N'lamwai Luntha Chithambo and Zama Mwandla. Video Player is loading. 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Next Stay Close ✕ N'lamwai Luntha Chithambo was born in Edinburgh and completed a Master of Fine Art degree, also at Rhodes University. Image: Supplied N'lamwai Luntha Chithambo was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1997 to Malawian parents. In 2019, he completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Rhodes University with distinction and in 2023 he completed a Master of Fine Art degree, also at Rhodes University. He has twice featured in the Thami Mnyele Fine Arts Awards Top 100 Exhibition (2019, 2022) as well as displayed his work at the National Arts Festival in Makhanda (2016, 2019, 2023). In2023, two of his paintings were selected for the Sasol New Signatures Finalist Exhibition at Pretoria Art Museum. Chithambo has also shown work in group exhibitions hosted by BAGFactory Artist Studios (2023, 2024) and has featured in a group exhibition hosted by Origin Art Gallery (2024). He currently lives in Johannesburg Zama Mwandla was born in Newcastle in 2000. Zama is a South African surrealist painter whose bold, narrative-driven oil paintings confront the psychological aftermath of rape and the complex journey toward healing. Drawing from her own traumatic experience as a rape survivor, Mwandla creates fantastical yet hauntingly visceral worlds where hybrid human-creatures symbolize mental breakdowns, sinful behaviour, and the fragile path to recovery. Influenced by Baroque art, Japanese erotic art, and psychological anime, her vividly graphic works depict utopian dreamscapes that both soothe and disturb. These visual worlds offer solace to survivors while compelling viewers - particularly men - to confront the uncomfortable realities of sexual violence. Her characters, often female or ambiguous in form, embody different phases of trauma, healing, and the emotional futility of revenge. Themes of violence, memory, and redemption are central to her practice. Mwandla earned a BAFA with Honours from the University of the Witwatersrand under the mentorship of Professor Sharlene Khan, receiving several academic awards for her work. She has exhibited in both local and international platforms, including the African Feminisms (Afems) exhibition (2019) and the 54th Art & Antique Fair in Salzburg, Austria (2023). Her paintings are held in prominent collections such as the Schuetz Art Museum (Austria) and the Amawal Collection (Spain). In addition to her studio practice, Mwandla collaborated with the AfrikaBurn Organisation in Cape Town, assisting in the development of their first visual art residency programme.
The Citizen
07-05-2025
- General
- The Citizen
GroundWork KZNSA exhibit celebrates 25 years of activism
OVER two decades of environmental activism is on display at the KwaZulu-Natal Society of the Arts (KZNSA) Gallery on Bulwer Road, where the social justice non-profit organisation, groundWork, is exhibiting their 25-year legacy of fighting for the well-being of South Africans. The exhibit, which began on May 2 and will conclude on June 8, is displayed in four sections of the gallery with visitors being greeted at the door by social justice banners and placards with powerful messages such as 'Protect our human rights defenders and whistleblowers' and 'Waste not! Burn not! Africa' from 2007. Dorothy Brislin, senior communications campaigner at groundWork, said the exhibition is about highlighting and celebrating the organisation's legacy in fighting environmental injustice. 'The organisation was started by three people in Pietermaritzburg,' said Brislin. 'Today we have over 50 staff members, a majority of whom are Durban-based and we have links across the continent.' She said groundWorks was born out of the Durban South Basin community's fight against pollution as people were getting sick from the toxic air and land that they were living on. Also Read: Durban environmental organisation marches for climate change 'The principle behind groundWork is to support communities while helping them to organise and mobilise for where there is no accountability on part of corporates in the fossil fuel industries who were putting profit before the people,' said Brislin. 'Fighting climate change is also a major part of the organisation as we have seen its devastating effects, particularly in Durban.' The exhibition, curated by Vaugh Sadie, includes still and moving images, placards, campaign T-shirts, and affidavits among other items from campaigns in the fight against fossil fuels, nuclear power and fracking. There is a section that shines a spotlight on the UPL chemical spill disaster with affidavits on the impact available for people to read. A memorial wall where those who died while fighting for a safe and pollution free SA are honoured is another major feature in the exhibit. Whistle-blowers who blew a lid on corruption, human rights violations, and environmental and social injustice are celebrated. 'For each room, we tried to find something that would make you feel like you are with the banners outside, it makes you like you were part of the march with the placards. In sound room, you are part of the people singing the protest song,' said Sadie as he explained the thought process behind the exhibit. 'What we tried to do with the spaces is to create a sense of people, that you are among people and that you are never alone. That was the intention of this. There is crispness that we bring to the detailing to the exhibition, the minimal style that allows you to engage with it.' The exhibition is open throughout the week, with walkabouts offered on Saturdays, from 10:00 to 12:00. From May 21, they are inviting schools to book tours of the exhibition. For more information or to book, contact the gallery via email: gallery@ or call 031 277 1705. For more from Berea Mail, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also check out our videos on our YouTube channel or follow us on TikTok. Click to subscribe to our newsletter – here At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
