Sasol New Signatures Visual Arts Competition Announces its 2026 Winners

A visual artist based in Johannesburg wins the 2026 Sasol New Signatures Visual Arts Competition with a mixed-media piece.

WORDS Palesa Mohola PHOTOS Supplied

The Sasol New Signatures Visual Arts Competition continues to be an instrument for launching the careers of many South African visual artists, offering them an opportunity to showcase their talents and gain significant recognition and exposure within the art world. This year, 938 works were submitted at eight collection points across South Africa, of which 123 were selected to advance to the final round of judging and to appear in the 2026 exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum.

“Sasol New Signatures has provided a vital platform for emerging artists to share their perspectives, challenge convention and take the next step in their creative journeys. We continue to support the arts because we believe that creativity plays an important role in shaping society, encouraging new ways of thinking, inspiring dialogue and helping us better understand the world and one another,” says Nozipho Mlambo, Sasol Senior Manager: Group Brand and Sponsorships.

This September, Sphumelele Zondi, a Johannesburg-based visual artist who works primarily with sculpture and mixed media and holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art from the Durban University of Technology, came out victorious. Entering for the first time, she was announced as the 2026 Sasol New Signatures Visual Arts Competition overall winner for her mixed-media piece, The laundry of a nation.

“The work draws attention to clothing that carry these experiences, traces of labour, care, hardship, and survival that can become embedded within them. I was also interested in the idea of Abantu bazothini?, the awareness of being watched, judged, or questioned by others, and how this can influence young people from an early age. Through the work, I want viewers to reflect on what they have inherited from generations and circumstances before them, and to question what they are now carrying forward,” says Sphumelele.

Sive Ntombana, a painter and mural artist based in Makhanda currently completing a Master of Fine Arts at Rhodes University, is this year’s runner-up with his work titled Umlandeli.

“This work is informed by a philosophical approach. From this approach, I use Sihle Sogaula’s and Hugo Canham’s thinking of the Black Xhosa home as a space full of theoretical activity. Within the work, I am trying to make sense of the notion of trauma and healing through a reflexive narrative perspective that is informed by theoretical thinking,” says Sive.

Sasol has been a sponsor of the competition for the past 36 years and continues to provide emerging South African artists with a platform to express their unique perspectives and push the boundaries of creative expression.

2026 Sasol New Signatures Visual Arts Competition Winners

• Overall winner Sphumelele Zondi walks away with a cash prize of R100 000 and an opportunity to hold a solo exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum in 2026.
• Runner-up Sive Ntombana takes home R25 000.

The five Merit Award winners receive R10 000 each, and they are:

• Charlie de Bruto – Pretoria, Ball buster, 2026 (Mixed media)
• Inga Lokwe – Pretoria, Qula kwedini, 2025 (Glass, metal, wood)
• Wisani Manyisi – Johannesburg, Dance of memory, 2026 (Mixed media on paper)
• Thomas Masingi – Polokwane, The desire to become one series, 2025 (Digital photography on true ivory)
• Charné Mungur – Gqeberha, Echoes of silence, 2025 (Steel)

The Sasol New Signatures exhibition, featuring the work of the 2026 winners and finalists, will take place at the Pretoria Art Museum from 10 September to 8 November 2026. | sasolsignatures.co.za

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