WORDS & INTERVIEW Palesa Mohola PHOTOS Nicole Landman

The President Hotel – set between the ocean and the slopes of Lion’s Head in Bantry Bay – holds a distinct place in the city’s hospitality landscape, shaped by a deep commitment to locally made furniture, natural materials and a curated selection of South African art.

It is this dedication to South African art that finds its fullest expression in In Residence, an ongoing exhibition series presented by The President Hotel in collaboration with local non-profit organisation Art School Africa, bringing Cape Town’s contemporary artistic voices into the everyday spaces of the hotel.

One of those voices is Zarah Cassim, a painter who works primarily in layers of oil paint and creates dream-like, surreal landscapes. Based in both Paris and Cape Town, she is a graduate of the University of Cape Town, where she completed an Honours in Fine Art in 2014, and the co-founder of Hotel Hernandez Art School. Her striking work has been exhibited across South Africa as well as internationally.

Zarah breaks down the creative process behind her work currently on show at The President Hotel.

Can you walk us through your creative process – from the initial idea to the finished work?

“I allow the painting to guide me. I often start with a colour and an abstract shape and build upon that, rather than beginning with a fixed idea of what the painting should become. Lately, I’ve also been allowing my children to collaborate on my works. They use my brushes and create images and marks on the canvas that I then work from and work into. I love the sense of freedom in this process, and seeing the dynamic way that one mark can inform the next and ultimately shape the final image.”

Memory and perception seem central to your practice – the way places linger long after their details have faded. How did this interest first develop, and are any of the works in this exhibition rooted in a specific memory or place?

“I’ve always felt that reality exists in multiple layers, and that perception plays a huge role in shaping our experience of it. I’m interested in becoming aware of those layers and questioning what we consider real and what we consider surreal. My works exist somewhere between a dream and reality. What feels like a dream to one person could be another person’s reality. It’s all connected to perception and to that very thin line between reality and illusion.

“The works aren’t necessarily rooted in one specific memory or place. They are more like fragments of memories and impressions that have been absorbed and reassembled.”

How does the natural landscape influence your work? Do you paint from observation, from memory, or somewhere in between?

“For the past few years, I’ve been travelling a lot and living between France, Spain and South Africa. The changing landscapes definitely enter my work on a subconscious level. I imagine spaces rather than painting specific places. Landscapes become blurred, and moments and imagery from one country find ways to collaborate and collide in a kind of subconscious collage. I’ve found similarities between certain spaces, and because I don’t work from photographs but from memory, I think there is a definite layered montage of places within my mind.”

What first inspired you to create for this exhibition, and what do you hope it communicates to those who encounter it?

“I think the work grew quite organically from the period of my life that I’m in now. Living between different countries, moving between familiar and unfamiliar landscapes, and experiencing life with my children has made me very aware of how much our surroundings and experiences shape the way we see the world. I wasn’t trying to create a particular narrative with this body of work. I wanted to follow the paintings and allow them to become their own spaces. I hope that when someone encounters the work, they can bring their own memories and perceptions into it. I like the idea that a painting can feel familiar without the viewer necessarily knowing why – that it can evoke a place, a feeling or a memory that belongs entirely to them.”

This exhibition spans oil on canvas, board and Fabriano paper. How does your choice of surface affect the work, and do you find yourself drawn to a particular medium?

“The surface definitely changes the way I work. Canvas gives me a sense of freedom and allows me to work quite physically, building up layers and marks. Board feels more contained and immediate, while paper has a delicacy that changes the relationship between the mark and the surface. I don’t necessarily choose the surface before I begin. Sometimes the material itself dictates how the work develops. I’m particularly drawn to the physicality of oil paint – the way it can be layered, scraped back and reworked. I enjoy that tension between control and unpredictability.”

The exhibition moves between large-scale works like The Dance I and more intimate pieces such as Sherbet, Berry and Bleed. How does scale shape the way you approach a painting?

“Scale changes the physical relationship I have with the painting. With a large work, I become much more immersed in it. I’m moving around it, stepping back and coming close again, and the marks become more physical and instinctive. The smaller works feel more intimate. There is a different kind of concentration involved, and I find myself noticing smaller gestures and details. I like having both within a body of work because they create different ways of entering the paintings. Some works ask you to step into them, while others ask you to come closer.”

What does it mean to you to have your work presented as part of the In Residence series?

“I really like the idea of the work being shown within a lived environment rather than being completely separated from everyday life. It feels appropriate to my practice because my paintings are connected to lived experience, memory and the spaces we inhabit. There is also an intimacy to In Residence. The work becomes part of an environment rather than something distant or untouchable, and I think that changes the way you encounter it.”

In Residence brings art into everyday spaces beyond the traditional gallery. Why is that kind of accessibility important to you, and how do you think it changes the way people experience art?

“I like the idea of encountering art unexpectedly, within a space that has its own sense of life and personality. It can make the experience feel more intuitive and personal. Art doesn’t have to feel distant or exclusive – sometimes the most meaningful connection happens when you simply come across a work and it speaks to you.”

You’ve exhibited in Australia, Spain and France, among other places. How has showing your work internationally shaped or challenged your practice?

“Moving between different countries has definitely influenced my work. Each place has its own visual language, landscapes, light and atmosphere, and I think all of those things find their way into my paintings, even when I’m not consciously thinking about them. Showing internationally has also made me more aware of how differently a work can be perceived depending on where it is seen and who is looking at it. That connects closely to my interest in perception – the painting remains the same, but the experience of it can change completely.”

In Residence, the exhibition series featuring Zarah’s work, will be on show until 11 January 2027 at The President Hotel. presidenthotel.co.za | artschoolafrica.com | @zarahcassim

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PHOTOS Supplied

Nando’s Creative Exchange (NCX) is the flagship artist development programme within the Nando’s Art Initiative, delivered in partnership with Spier Arts Trust. It recognises emerging fine artists from Southern Africa who demonstrate exceptional talent, providing the support they need to take the next steps in their careers.

Now in its 15th year, the programme continues to provide artists with mentorship, materials and exhibition platforms that help turn creative potential into sustainable careers. Bekezela Mabena, Luxolo Witvoet, Mpumelelo Samantha Maseko and Viola Greyling are the four artists selected for the 2026 Nando’s Creative Exchange. Their exhibition, titled Tiriparwendo, takes its name from a Shona word meaning “we are on a journey”.

Bekezela Mabena

Home is not always where you were born. Sometimes, home is something you spend a lifetime moving toward. For Bekezela Mabena, that search has become the defining subject of his art and, more recently, the lens through which he understands fatherhood.

Born in Tembisa in 1996, Mabena is a Johannesburg-based visual artist and printmaker whose practice has been shaped by his movement between South Africa and Zimbabwe. Questions around migration, identity and belonging feel less like themes and more like lived reality. But becoming a father shifted something fundamental. “Being a father makes you think about time differently,” he says. “It makes you realise that being a traveller and migrant isn’t just about moving across land; it’s about passing down who you are.”

When Mabena returned to the place that first made him, he found himself a stranger to his own old ways. The process of relearning – sitting still long enough to simply be somewhere – became the emotional core of this body of work. “It’s a mirror for anyone who has ever felt they belong to more than one place,” he says. “It is about faith, about starting over, and about finding out that no matter where the road takes us, we are all just trying to make it home.”

His mixed-media prints and paintings bring these ideas into bold, layered visual conversations, where colour and mark-making do the work that words cannot. Through the Nando’s Creative Exchange, Mabena joins a cohort of artists who share an understanding that the most personal work is often the most universal – and that belonging, wherever you find it, is worth expressing. | @mabenaart

Luxolo Theophilus Witvoet

Luxolo Theophilus Witvoet never had a formal art education. What he has is life experience, which can’t be taught: a personal history of displacement, a sharp eye and an instinct for finding the extraordinary in the everyday.

Born in Qonce (King William’s Town) and raised in Cape Town, Witvoet’s story of migration begins long before his own birth. “This body of work is deeply rooted in my own history of migration,” he says, “a legacy that starts with my grandparents’ journey from Lesotho and the Northern Cape to Cape Town in search of a better life.” When his parents’ marriage broke up, a six-year-old Witvoet was relocated to Cape Town with his mother. He describes the move as a feeling of exile. “While migration and exile are separate concepts, I see them as cousins,” he says.

A multidisciplinary artist who moves fluidly between digital image-making and traditional painting, Witvoet turns his gaze toward people forced to flee, migrate or live in exile, examining the circumstances that compel people to leave and what happens to the communities, stories and identities left behind. He incorporates his subjects into scenes and landscapes rather than painting them in isolation. He renders them in acrylic, then uses tobacco ash, flashband, gold leaf and cut-out canvas to translate digital figures into tactile, layered surfaces.

Witvoet brings a uniquely forged creative language to the Nando’s Creative Exchange – and a body of work that insists on asking who we are, where we come from and what we carry when we leave. | @luxolowitvoet

Mpumelelo Samantha Maseko

Mpumelelo Samantha Maseko lets the subject matter of her art determine the medium she uses. She says her work rewards those who dare to look closer. Born in Boschfontein, Mpumalanga, in 1997 and now based in Johannesburg, Maseko’s multidisciplinary practice spans oil painting, collage, assemblage, mixed media and printmaking. It deliberately refuses to be confined to a single form of expression. At the centre of it all is a singular focus: Black femininity, identity and the intimate, layered process of becoming.

Her work explores migration as a psychological and cultural experience. “I am interested in what remains within the individual after they have crossed a geographical boundary,” she says, “the memories, language, beliefs, culture and identities that continue to shape their sense of self.”

The figures in her paintings reflect this tension. “The absence of a mouth speaks to the silencing and displacement that can occur when an individual enters an unfamiliar social environment, where even the way they speak can become a marker of difference.” Fabric, meanwhile, becomes an extension of home – cultural memory made visible. Hair, too, marks identity, communicating cultural affiliation and geographical origin long after a person has physically moved away.

Her work does not position Black women as subjects to be interpreted, but as the authors of their own stories, their own myths and their own evolving power. Through the Nando’s Creative Exchange, Maseko steps into a new phase of storytelling with the mentorship, resources and collective energy to push her practice further. | @impumelelo__m

Viola Greyling

Not all journeys are measured in kilometres. Some are felt in the body, carried across generations or, in Viola Greyling’s case, traced and pressed into clay.

Born and based in Pretoria, Greyling is a ceramic artist whose sculptural work explores identity, memory and the emotional landscape of belonging – particularly as experienced through migration and displacement. For Greyling, clay is a collaborator. “In its unfired state, its plasticity allows it to shift and react when moved, holding a physical memory of change,” she says. “This material behaviour reflects the way we, as people, respond to the environments we move through, carrying traces of each place while continually adjusting to the next.”

Her forms draw on the slow, patient growth of stalagmites. Identity is interpreted as something shaped gradually through time and experience rather than fixed at a single point. Seeds collected from specific places connect the work to the environments she has moved between, translated into clay as small records of place that capture fragments of an environment and a moment in time. Found objects pressed into clay surfaces function as markers of place, traces of movement and imprints of a hybrid identity still being navigated.

“Migration does not simply mean leaving one place for another,” Greyling says, “but carrying pieces of each place with us as we evolve.” Her contribution to the Nando’s Creative Exchange is a practice as patient and deliberate as the medium itself – and work that asks us to consider what we carry with us, and what we leave behind. | @violaartgrey

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WORDS Palesa Mohola PHOTOS Courtesy of Gallery MOMO

Gallery MOMO is no stranger to the American art scene. It has exhibited at art fairs such as EXPO CHICAGO since 2019 and at Navy Pier in April 2026, and maintains an artist residency with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The Atlanta Art Fair is the next American chapter of that programme and marks Gallery MOMO’s first appearance at the fair.

Representing the gallery are two South African artists whose practices, though distinct in medium and approach, share a deep engagement with identity, memory and heritage.

Fhatuwani Mukheli is a Johannesburg-born multi-disciplinary artist whose work often centres on the relationship between parent and child. Working in acrylic paint, charcoal, fineliner and spray paint, he gravitates towards earthy reds drawn from his Venda heritage.

Blessing Blaai is a Johannesburg-based visual artist and muralist trained in painting, drawing and printmaking. He works across oil, acrylic, watercolour, ink and mixed media.

The works that will be showcased at this year’s fair comprise paintings and mixed-media pieces, including Fhatuwani’s A Study of Freedom, a large four-panel painting, and Blessing’s Surmount, a mixed-media artwork.

We spoke to both artists, who gave us insight into the creative process behind their works for the Atlanta Art Fair:

Can you walk us through your creative process, from planning your piece to the final product, and what was your favourite part of making your exhibition piece?

Fhatuwani Mukheli: “My process is quite layered and can be lengthy because I find inspiration everywhere. I read a lot of art books, Renaissance books and art history, looking at the stories artists were telling at the time and imagining my own life and reality within them. I’m also constantly collecting references, colours, compositions, clothing, poses, light, music and things I see in everyday life.

“From there, I sketch and build compositions, sometimes reimagining historical works and sometimes creating completely new stories rooted in my upbringing and where I come from. My favourite part is when all those different references finally come together and the work begins to feel like my own world.”

Blessing Blaai: “Process starts from a collection of drawings and references (new and old) which basically form my “library”. I take cut-outs I’ve made, drawings and other motifs and combine them to form the base of the artwork, which is done as an underpainting. Once happy, I start the next step where I section each part of the work using masking tape (which has become both tedious but very satisfying at the end), then paint.

“Once dry, I pull off the tape, which has become my favourite part as I get to see the results for the first time.”

What new ways of creating did you experiment with when putting together this piece, and how did they improve the quality of your work?

FM: “I’ve been experimenting more with how I build compositions and how different references can exist within one image. Instead of simply recreating a historical composition, I take elements from different places, Renaissance imagery, photography, contemporary African life, clothing and my own memories, and reconstruct them into something new.

“This has allowed the work to become more layered and intentional. I’m thinking beyond just making a beautiful image and asking what every gesture, object, pose and compositional decision contributes to the story.”

BB: “In my recent works, I’ve approached them as if I’m doing a multicolour linocut, which has allowed me to place elements harmoniously, giving a nice uniform look while creating depth.”

What story do you hope to tell with your art piece?

FM: “I want the work to feel like a reflection of my life, my upbringing and the people and communities that shaped me. At the same time, I’m interrogating art history, particularly Renaissance art, and asking what those images might have looked like if people who looked like me had been given the same dignity, beauty and monumentality.

“In many ways, my work is about deconstructing history and reconstructing it through my own perspective, placing Black people at the centre of stories where we were historically absent.”

You are trained in painting, drawing and printmaking, and work across oil, acrylic, watercolour, ink and mixed media. How did you ensure that your different ways of creating were represented and still balanced in your piece?

BB: “Within the different mediums that I’ve learned to use, each has come with a certain principle that I keep. For example, when working with ink on paper, all works had to be clean even if the process was messy (which is very aesthetically pleasing). This is one of the rules I’ve applied to the final look of my works.”

How does the surrounding environment and natural landscape influence or inspire your work?

FM: “My environment is a huge part of my work. I grew up in Soweto, but my family history and Venda heritage are also deeply connected to how I see the world. I’m inspired by landscapes, homes, family spaces, people, clothing, textures and even the colours around me.

“But environment for me isn’t only physical. It’s also the music I’m listening to, conversations I’m having, things happening around me and memories from my childhood. Inspiration is everywhere; I’m constantly looking.”

What feeling do you hope audiences get when they view your artwork?

FM: “I hope there is an immediate sense of beauty, dignity and presence, but I also want people to stay with the work long enough to question what they are seeing. I want them to recognise something familiar while also seeing history from a different perspective.

“Ultimately, I want the work to feel human. Even though I’m having a conversation with art history, the people in my paintings come from my world. I want audiences to see Black people represented with tenderness, strength, beauty and the same sense of importance that has been given to figures in classical art for centuries.”

BB: “I want the audience to feel an array of emotions (depending on the piece they are looking at), but the overall purpose is for them to feel like they fit into the piece despite the emotions they’re experiencing.”

The Atlanta Art Fair continues to be a platform for cultural enrichment and artistic exchange. Now in its third edition, the fair takes place from 1–4 October 2026 at Pullman Yards in Atlanta, bringing more than 70 galleries from around the world. gallerymomo.com | theatlantaartfair.com

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WORDS Palesa Mohola PHOTOS Courtesy of OSFHC

Building on the success of OSFHC’s inaugural event, this year’s festival will see over 30 artists exhibiting across 20 studios between Fish Hoek and Clovelly. The all-access art trail will be divided into three routes – Clovelly Route, Fish Hoek Route and Fish Hoek Mountain – and will include partner venues along the trails.

This year’s newcomers

Chris Bladen: a bronze sculptor whose finely detailed sculptures of fish and birds draw on his own fly-fishing and birdwatching experiences.

Mandy Lake: an oil painter with ocean-inspired abstractions.

Angela Buckland: a photographer with work exhibited at the Iziko National Gallery and Durban Art Gallery, and published in three books.

Nicolene Louw: an illustrator with pen-and-ink work as far afield as Switzerland.

Jasper Wolfeman: a multidisciplinary artist with paintings and sculptural floral arrangements.

Along with their artwork, artists have been challenged to create exciting, eco-friendly wine containers, with the public invited to vote for the best one.

What you need to know

The ticketed opening function for collectors and art lovers will take place at AP Jones, a department store on Fish Hoek Main Road, on Friday, 9 October, from 9am to 4pm – guests will be treated to a bespoke installation and live performance. Part of the ticket proceeds will be donated to Project Flamingo, an organisation that provides care for breast cancer patients within the public healthcare system.

The studios will open to the public for free on 10–11 October from 10am to 4pm. A full map with the route guide, studio locations and points of interest, as well as artist profiles and other information, is available online. openstudios.org.za | openstudiosfishhoekclovelly

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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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WORDS Steve Smith PHOTOS Craig Ferguson

If you haven’t come across one before, a rain 101 skin is a decorative, interchangeable adhesive cover designed exclusively for rain’s 101 5G smart router. It allows you to customise your router’s look to match the interior decor of your home or office – and thanks to the skins’ modern, easy-to-apply-and-remove material, you can change them as often as you want. For some of our 12 talented young creatives, it was about creating a piece specifically for the device. For others, it was focusing in on elements of an existing piece of furniture or art.

Here’s the story behind each of the 10 skins in the rain | VISI collection. Visit rain.co.za for more info.

Kaylee Higgins, By John; Designer

Being quirky, colourful and joyful defines By John. How did that translate into your rain | VISI skin?

“I wanted the skin to be unapologetically By John, so I went straight for our signature bold pink-and-red stripe. It’s playful, eye-catching and recognisable. If you know By John, you’ll know it’s us before you even see the logo.”

How would you describe your approach to design? What inspires you?

“I just want to have fun! My goal has always been to spread joy through my designs, so I create pieces that I know will make people smile. Life is serious enough, and I think a home should feel happy. I’m inspired by bold colour, unexpected combinations and not being afraid to take risks.” | @byjohn_

Ndivhuho Rasengani; Visual artist and sculptor

What principles guide your work?

“My practice is guided by curiosity, care and a respect for materials. I try to understand what a material naturally wants to do before imposing a form upon it. Movement is central to my process: how bodies travel through spaces; how objects hold memory; how light transforms perception. I want to create work that’s considered and precise, while still leaving space for discovery and interpretation.”

How important is connection in your creative practice?

“Connection is fundamental to my work. I understand making as a conversation between the personal and the collective – between my experiences, the places I have lived, the people I have encountered, and the histories carried through materials and gestures. Heritage is not fixed or purely historical; it is continually reshaped through movement, migration and exchange.” | @r.asengani

Leah Rolando; Photographic artist

Your work explores colour, abstraction and, to a degree, illusion. What inspired the art you used for your rain | VISI skin?

“The skin itself became part of the brief. It’s a square format with an opening at its centre, so the artwork couldn’t be arbitrary; the composition had to hold itself around that area while still feeling intentional. I went back through a recent body of work, looking for a piece where the geometry would sit comfortably within that frame – and this image did. The abstract subject worked with the router’s format rather than fighting it, and its palette of blues, yellows and pinks felt right for rain. In a way, choosing it was its own act of composition: seeing an existing work through the constraints of a completely new surface.” composition: seeing an existing work through the constraints of a completely new surface.” | @leahrolando_art

Zinhle Sithebe; Illustrator

Storytelling is baked into your vibrant, characterful illustrations. What story are you telling through your rain | VISI skin?

“The design is called ‘Hold Space for Your Dreams’. It’s a reminder to practice compassion for yourself – to give yourself permission to slow down, be aware and protect your vision from self-doubt, using intuition to seek the things that spark joy in your life. The hands in the design hold the heart, which represents holding space for yourself and nurturing the things you care about while highlighting inner joy as the goal, represented as a sun motif in the centre of the design. I hope to encourage others to practise mindfulness and be intentional about pouring into themselves positively through imagination and play.” | @zee_feels

Bonolo Chepape, Lulasclan; Designer

Bold colours, patterns and thoughtful storytelling underpin Lulasclan. How did those qualities influence the skin you created for the rain | VISI collection?

“I see homes and personal spaces as a means of self-expression. They act as living archives of pieces, memories and parts of us that tell the story of who we are. With this skin, I created a design that remembers who I am as a visual storyteller, while inviting curiosity for the collector. I chose colour combinations that fit with how colour impacts our lives and influences our feelings. The tones drawn from nature are met with a considered playfulness that energises us and sparks a remembrance of our kindred nature. It’s a design that should complement other objects within an interior, creating a relationship that blends functionality and art, yet still holds a conversation of its own.” | @lulasclan

Nindya Bucktowar & Nikhil Tricam, Studio Kalki; Furniture designers, ceramicists and artists

Studio Kalki balances sculptural form (and oft en ceramics) with craft smanship. How did you translate that approach into a two-dimensional skin design?

“Ceramic surface design affords us the opportunity to create perceived depth through glazes and forms. In the case of the skin design, we took inspiration from our iconic Fynbos patterning, adding deep, translucent glazes to the forms. Each piece was then waterjet-cut and individually glazed, so that the sense of depth is emphasised.”

What ideas or influences sit at the heart of your design practice?

“We try not to be driven by trends or pure aesthetic appeal – rather, we aim for a sense of refi ned, craft ed authenticity and a celebration of the process of making. Our colours, forms and concepts are oft en inspired by natural elements or historical architectural principles, emphasising structural honesty and tactile engagement.” | @studio.kalki

Caitlin Warther & Wendy Dixon, Spectrum Mirror; Designers and artists

Spectrum celebrates luminous colours and alchemical processes. How did you approach creating a skin for this collaboration?

“When rain approached us, we knew pretty quickly that the mirror itself had to lead the design. What we do at Spectrum Mirror is work with gradient chromatic mirror surfaces. Those surfaces are endlessly alive – they shift and catch the light differently depending on the time of day, the angle, who is standing in front of them. The colour lives within the mirror itself, moving through tones as the light changes. So the real puzzle was how to bring any of that quality to a vinyl skin, which is pretty much the opposite of everything we usually work with.

“We went through many ideas that did not quite get there. What eventually clicked was surprisingly direct: we photographed the actual mirror panels and used those images as the design. There’s something we love about that solution – it goes all the way back to the source material. The result is quite simple but bold, which feels very us.” | @spectrummirror

Ryan Olivier, Vitalli; Furniture designer

Vitalli’s work is known for its materiality, craftsmanship and sculptural forms. How did that manifest in the piece chosen for the rain | VISI skin?

“We decided to pay homage to pieces that feel most synonymous with the brand. By analysing these alongside our key brand pillars, we began to uncover the direction that would best serve the brief. We wanted to harness a feeling of familiarity while curating curiosity and delight. The challenge was translating that into a 2D format, because Vitalli pieces rely on light, shadow, tactility, form and presence to communicate the depth of the work. To overcome this, we turned to scale and abstraction, playing with form, rhythm and materiality.”

What are the core ideas that underpin your practice?

“Instinctive. Elemental. Authentic. Our pieces are familiar, as though they have always existed and are being rediscovered through an abstract lens. The work is rooted in nature and in an honest approach to materials. We celebrate the character of the materials we use, leaving our pieces unsealed so they gain a natural patina with age. The markings they gather tell the story of their journey through life, making no two the same. We respect the process and a slower, more intentional way of making. We design collectable heirlooms that get passed down through generations, rejecting the throwaway culture.” | @vitalli.design

Amy Rusch; Multidisciplinary artist

How would you describe your artistic language?

“At the moment, materially, I work with waste plastic packets and thread, discarded sails, ropes, rocks and sediment. I’m drawn to materials that might easily be thrown away. Plastic is the material of our time, if I think about time folded upon itself in stratigraphic layers. These materials coalesce into a language that I’ve grown to understand as a sort of vibratory translation process. The works become pieces that feel like ‘sound drawings’ or ‘fields of energy’ – tiny dots and lines of thread repeated to form interconnected surfaces. The thread feels like a tool for drawing, but that drawing isn’t limited to a surface mark – the mark extends through the layered plastic, and the works become sculptural, depending on the resolution you’re looking from.”

What inspired the work that you are using for your rain | VISI skin?

“The piece is titled ‘The wind inscribes – reverberations of a Kalahari thunderstorm, 2024–2025’, and forms part of a larger body of work that’s been guided by the wind. The work itself is inspired by the experience of a thunder and lightning storm in the Kalahari. The stitched work in blue is connected to the marks inscribed into a piece of red sailcloth I flew in the Kalahari storm, filled with dust, lightning, thunder and eventually rain in the dry desert landscape.” | @amy.rusch

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PHOTOS Courtesy of RK Contemporary

Innovative Threads II returns to RK Contemporary from 2–30 August 2026, with an exhibition spotlighting eight South African contemporary fibre artists.

Originally founded by Margie Garratt in 1996, Innovative Threads championed contemporary fibre art long before the medium gained the widespread recognition it enjoys today. The exhibition established an international reputation over a decade of touring exhibitions in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Japan and New Zealand. With Margie’s blessing, Astrid McLeod, owner and curator of RK Contemporary, has revived the exhibition that helped shape her own journey into the contemporary art world, with the aim of re-establishing it as an annual celebration of innovation, creativity and contemporary fibre art.

“What excites me most about this exhibition is the individuality of the artists. Although they all work with fibre, no two approach the medium in the same way, creating work that reflects distinctly different perspectives and challenges traditional perceptions of textile art. Each artist brings a completely different perspective, making this an exhibition full of discovery, conversation and unexpected connections,” says Astrid McLeod, owner and curator of RK Contemporary.

From deconstructed protea fibres and meditative patchwork to sculptural felt vessels and hand-woven wool works, the exhibition features works by Katja Abbott, Willemien de Villiers, Dineo Ponde Mafora, Leah Johnson, Leila Walter, Nina Kruger, Virginia McKenny & Margaret Courtney-Clarke and Berdine van der Mescht.

More than a showcase of exceptional textile practice, Innovative Threads II demonstrates how contemporary artists are redefining the possibilities of fibre.

Innovative Threads II is showing at RK Contemporary, 32 Main Street, Riebeek-Kasteel from 2–30 August 2026. | rkcontemporary.com

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WORDS Sean O’Toole PHOTOS Courtesy of the THK Gallery, Goodman Gallery and Everard Read, Supplied PORTRAITS Rebecca Boulet, Courtesy of Goodman Gallery, Supplied

New talent is the lifeblood of the art scene. It’s why canny dealers and curators haunt graduate exhibitions, feigning indifference, scanning degree shows for next year’s big name. Instagram has become an auxiliary viewing room, with many high-profile collectors now scrolling as avidly as they once strode through art school corridors.

For those who prefer to saunter rather than swipe for talent, the art fair circuit offers its own barometer of what’s next. In South Africa’s comparatively new market, youth carries particular currency. The Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Art Joburg and Latitudes Art Fair each foreground emerging artists through dedicated prizes: respectively, the Investec Emerging Artist Award, the FNB Art Prize, and the ANNA Award for women artists. Recent winners have skewed Millennial.

For artists, the period between their late 20s and early 40s is a time of ambition and attrition. Four of the five artists profiled here are old enough to have outlasted early doubt, but young enough to remain institutionally nimble. They’re all “ones to watch”.

Tshepiso Moropa

When she finished high school, Joburg-based collage artist Tshepiso Moropa had to park her dreams. Following her parents’ advice, she studied psychology and linguistics at Wits. The training lingers in her work, which is attentive to language, memory and identity. Her handcraft ed photo collages, presented in her debut at the 2026 Cape Town Art Fair, draw on Tswana folk tales shared with her by her aunt. “The subject matter oft en includes self-portraits or archived images of African women that I’ve sourced from library resources or research sites on the internet,” Tshepiso explains. “The archive serves as a site for both excavation and recreation.”

She treats found photographs as living documents. “I use archived images as proxies for memory, especially concerning cultural heritage and the present time.”

Figures are cut, layered and re-staged against stark white backgrounds, as if suspended between eras. The effect is neither nostalgic nor didactic. “My collages celebrate blackness, and pride in our heritage and culture. The focus is on finding a sense of belonging within ourselves, rather than seeking it from others.” @tshepisomoropaa

Guy Simpson

In the three years since his debut solo at THK Gallery, painter and sculptor Guy Simpson has moved briskly through South Africa’s blue-chip ecosystem, also showing at Everard Read and Goodman Gallery. Yet it was his 2024 exhibition “Over the Garden Wall” at Breakroom Projects – a Woodstock space created by artist Igshaan Adams – that was decisive. Installed alongside a freestanding motorised gate and a pair of shoes caught mid-stride, Guy showed irregularly shaped, layered abstractions. The paintings, some of which read like peeled sections of scuffed walls, announced his interest in pushing beyond the literal.

His earliest works were precise drawings of interiors. This domestic theme informed paintings of his childhood home in the Joburg suburb of Sydenham – a pitched-roof bungalow he moved into at age six and left at 19, to study at the Cape Town Creative Academy. His work concentrated on its unremarkable fixtures: plug points, parquet floors, alarm sensors, brass numbers.

His Goodman Gallery exhibition, “Was Here”, presented a mix of descriptive and irregular abstractions, the latter now framed. “I was struggling to sell the larger canvas works,” he says. “Stretching and framing them helped me do a lot more with the medium; I now have a rigid structure to layer more materials.” Framing may have closed some doors – but it opened others. @guysimpson_

Kamva Matuis

Shortcuts to becoming an artist are rare, though luck can sometimes accelerate the process. Joburg-based painter Kamva Matuis, the only Gen Z artist here, is enjoying such a moment. Trained at Wits, last year he presented a solo exhibition at Lemkus Gallery, an important early-career space run by Michaelis graduate Jared Leite. Among the work, an upward-looking view of two Fallists preparing to cover the statue of Cecil John Rhodes lingered, partly because of its unusual vantage point but also for its restrained palette. Kamva, who was born in Burgersdorp in the Eastern Cape, described the painting as a form of exorcism.

The momentum has continued. In January, he participated in Everard Read’s Cubicle Series, showing earlier paintings triggered by his first visit to Cape Town. A month later he appeared with two galleries at the Cape Town Art Fair: Lemkus presented a jolting composition of a stitched-up cadaver with a half-eaten apple balanced on its torso, while tastemaker Blank Projects showed portraits of Winnie Mandela and Nina Simone – both role models for the artist.

Kamva is an assured figurative painter with a marked feeling for brown – a notoriously difficult colour. But while good painters are plentiful, interesting ones are rare. And he is interesting. @matuiskamva

Amy Rusch

“My work is fed by my experiences in sailing and archaeology,” says Cape Town-born textile artist Amy Rusch. Equally comfortable crewing a boat on the Atlantic and tracing rock engravings in the Northern Cape, Amy produces works that are an elegant metabolism of her experiences.

Water is integral to understanding her practice. In recent years, she’s shown large hanging textile pieces made of nylon spinnaker sail, either as collages or free-form installations. She’s best known for her work using salvaged plastic bags, many found on shorelines. “Plastic is the material of our time,” she says.

In her hands, the plastic buckles under accumulated stitching. Tension is palpable. The outcome may be abstract, but her works feel animated, offering an “archaeological sense” of now. Cut, flattened and tensioned into submission, they become the ground for machine stitching. Thread, often inherited from female relatives, functions as both a drawing tool and quiet biographical trace.

Her compositions range from tight, almost cartographic colour fields to spare contour studies referencing a sailboat crossing of the South Atlantic. Time spent on archaeological sites with her father also registers in her layered, topographical works. She was awarded the Materiality Prize at the 2026 Cape Town Art Fair. @amy.rusch

Warren Maroon

“I started making art late due to, well, things,” says Warren Maroon, winner of the Emerging Artist Award at the 2026 Cape Town Art Fair. In 2020, while working as a gallery assistant, he presented his debut, “Living in a Box”. The exhibition featured commonplace objects such as bricks, hammers and burglar bars; one work comprised a hammer wrapped in a pink cloth, like a mourning shroud. His sculptures reflected his – and many other young men’s – lived experience of the Cape Flats.

Warren’s muscular practice caught the eye of Everard Read, who invited him to show in its Cubicle Series. His 2023 solo at the gallery, “Well, there goes that dream”, included a freestanding installation composed of dowel sticks and gavels.

Inspired by Italy’s post-war Arte Povera movement, Warren’s materialist practice is propositional. It wants you to consider the potential of ordinary things. His latest solo at Everard Read builds on his long-standing interest in hammers, using a new medium: paper. “The exhibition is about a hammer and a nail, and the power relationship between the two,” he says. “One can’t survive without the other. I usually use multiple found objects to tell a story, but it can become too abstract, so I decided to be more precise with how I imbue meaning in objects.” @warrenmaroon

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PHOTOS Courtesy of Magugu House and Hayden Phipps, Courtesy of Goodman Gallery and Anthea Pokroy, Supplied

The iconic Cape Town hotel continues to champion the arts, with a trio of exhibitions unfolding across its grounds: The Foreign Familiar, Interior Weather and a sculpture showcase.

“Mount Nelson is a big part of Cape Town’s cultural story,” says the hotel’s General Manager, Patrick Fisher. “Through collaborations with institutions and artists shaping the continent’s creative landscape, we continue to open our spaces to meaningful dialogue and discovery.”

The Foreign Familiar at Magugu House Cape Town

Co-curated by Thebe Magugu and Julia Buchanan, the exhibition considers the afterlives of objects, images and systems introduced through colonial encounter.

The Foreign Familiar merges fashion with fine art. A collaborative sculpture between Magugu and Mary Sibande fuses Victorian silhouettes with Basotho-blanket textiles, while Sibande’s accompanying works on paper further explore themes of leisure, imagination and Black interiority. Meanwhile, works by Wim Botha destabilise the visual language of Western art history through fragmented sculptural forms. The exhibition extends into Magugu’s Mafeteng capsule collection, inspired by the Basotho blanket and its layered history of colonial exchange and cultural reclamation.

Interior Weather

This unique exhibition, presented in collaboration with Norval Foundation and curated by Carmen Joubert, unfolds throughout Mount Nelson’s communal spaces.

Interior Weather explores how colour and material can shape atmosphere and feeling within a space – in this case, the hotel’s corridors and lounges. Featured artists include Kate Gottgens, Dada Khanyisa, Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga and Ephraim Ngatane, to name but a few.

Sculpture Garden

In collaboration with Goodman Gallery, Mount Nelson’s historic gardens play host to a year-long outdoor sculpture exhibition featuring works by internationally celebrated artists, including Yinka Shonibare, William Kentridge, Walter Oltmann and Ghada Amer.

Designed as a walk-through experience, the exhibition invites guests to encounter sculpture through discovery and quiet reflection throughout the property.

Take the art tour

Visitors to Mount Nelson are invited to experience the works first-hand through ARTROUTE’s complimentary weekly art tour, held every Thursday at 17:00. Led by an art-and-design specialist guide, the tour explores all three exhibitions, bringing the stories behind the works to life.

Exhibition dates & times

Interior Weather and Goodman Gallery’s sculpture exhibition will remain on view until February 2027.

Presented within the permanent gallery space at Magugu House Cape Town, The Foreign Familiar forms part of a quarterly exhibition programme that places contemporary art in conversation with Thebe Magugu’s latest collections. The Foreign Familiar is on show until 27 August 2026 and is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00–18:00.

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WORDS Neyani Mphephu PHOTOS Supplied

It is incredible to witness the growth of South African art and talent across different art forms, with artists expressing themselves in unique ways to reach one common goal. Each winner of the 2026 Standard Bank Young Artist Awards pushes the boundaries of their discipline, exploring themes including love, girlhood, African ontologies and transformative performance on a world stage.

The winners will showcase their fascinating bodies of work at the National Arts Festival, to be held in Makhanda from 25 June to 5 July 2026.

“It’s such an important part of the Festival each year, to host the Standard Bank Young Artist cohort’s new work. The 2026 cohort reflects a mix of fresh language and positioning alongside historical grounding; the energy is high and confident. We’re looking forward to innovation, influence and remembering,” notes Artistic Director Rucera Seethal.

The 2026 Standard Bank Young Artist Awards winners include:

Jason Jacobs – Theatre
Presents Kraal

Jason performed Kraal in both a traditional theatre and a sacred matjieshut – a two-part decolonial curation that powerfully unravels inherited trauma and the shadow of the colonial dop system. Originally from the landscapes of Namaqualand, he combines heritage and contemporary storytelling through film and theatre. He will also showcase his screenplay Variations on a Theme alongside his co-writer and co-director Devon Delmoar – a story about an elderly goatherd caught in a reparations scam: a portrait of waiting, endurance and loss as repetition serves as revelation.

Lee-Che Janecke – Dance
Presents MAJAIVAN: A Movement Story of the Life of Lee-Che Janecke

Known globally as Litchi HOV, Lee-Che Janecke is the choreographer, creative director and cultural innovator behind some popular contemporary African dances. MAJAIVAN: A Movement Story of the Life of Lee-Che Janecke is his most personal offering yet: an emotional autobiography told entirely through movement. Lee-Che was the creative architect of Tyla’s Grammy Award-winning Water, which became a global dance awakening. Also noteworthy is his 2025 MTV VMA-nominated work, Push 2 Start, for Best Choreographer.

Gabi Motuba – Jazz
Presents The Sounds of a Black Girl

Gabi Motuba moves through jazz like a philosopher through language – with precision, curiosity and deep conviction. The Sounds of a Black Girl brings a new ensemble to the stage for a performance rooted in improvisation, spiritual jazz and neo-soul, building on the experimental foundations of The Sabbath. A vocalist and composer of rare emotional range, Gabi is redefining what South African jazz can hold.

Manana – Music
Presents Pulchritudinous: The Beauty of the Journey

SAMA-winning Manana arrives at the Festival with his most ambitious live offering to date. Pulchritudinous: The Beauty of the Journey spans his entire artistic arc – from debut EP In the Beginning Was the End to 2025’s OBHM: Full Stop – performed with a full band and horn section. With collaborations stretching from Burna Boy and Usher to Tyla, Cynthia Erivo and Sauti Sol, Manana will perform new arrangements, rare renditions and unreleased material in a once-in-a-lifetime showcase.

Bronwyn Katz – Visual Art
Presents Ta a-b kobab ada kāxu-da, ti khoe-du’e!

Bronwyn Katz’s exhibition Ta a-b kobab ada kāxu-da, ti khoe-du’e! is a quiet act of linguistic retrieval, translating the body’s own cartographies into metal scaffolds, horns and cavities alive with healing herbs, beeswax and conductive wire. Born in Kimberley and based in Cape Town, Katz is a founding member of iQhiya, the celebrated 11-woman collective that has shown at Documenta 14 in Kassel and Athens. Her practice is an evolving system of notation: an effort to speak the phonetics of a language not yet fully remembered.

The National Arts Festival runs from 25 June to 5 July 2026. Visit nationalartsfestival.co.za to view the curated programme, which includes showcases by all the 2026 Standard Bank Young Artist Awards winners.

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