FIRST PRIZE WINNER: THABANG LEHOBYE
Mountain View | Johannesburg

Thabang Lehobye, is a visual artist experimenting with various stop motion animation techniques using acrylics and charcoal. With a career spanning 18 years, he started his formal art practice at Artist Proof Studio, where his love for Jo’burg as a subject in his works began. He then graduated with a National Diploma in Fine Arts from University of Johannesburg and Studied Multimedia at Vega School of Brand Communication.
Receiving patronage from Johnson & Johnson enabled him to further his professional development course at Artist Proof Studio in 2005. He received further support from artist William Kentridge as part of professional development as well as to further his studies in 2008. Lehobye has been part of various collaborative exhibitions including a Professional Development Program at Artspace Gallery with Prof. Kim Berman and After Hours in Norway. He has been awarded multiple Grants and Awards and has participated in numerous shows.
Passionate about the medium of charcoal, printmaking and animation, Lehobye continues to expand the canon of his works. His recent mixed media works further explore the Jo’burg inner city as a subject, specifically reflecting on it being a constant physical space in flux and the presence of its ever-changing inhabitants. Through his work he explores the Jo’burg inner city’s continuous reimagining through the lens of inter-generational conceptions of the space. The Hillbrow tower as a baton, being passed over and over again is an embodiment of his sentiments around the cityscape, where the state of the inner city continues to be reinvented and reimagined.

The Jo’burg inner city serves as Thabang Lehobye’s playground as he uses different hues and angles to lure the viewer in to walk the metaphorical streets embedded within his work. Exploring the city’s metamorphic qualities, the works are a representation of the changing connections to the cityscape.
This constant rediscovery through the artist’s perspective enables one to begin to gain a portal to the city. Viewers can begin to both locate themselves within the labyrinth while also allowing themselves to get lost as his experimentation with scale drives this impetus. The open composition extends an invitation to the viewer to surrender to the magnetic nature of the city.
The people who animate the city have a palpable presence as key figures in the intersection between the seemingly static nature and the constant state of flux which is characteristic of the Jo’burg inner city. An immersive experience is created through the creative use of acrylics and charcoal, with tools such as perspective useful to this end. Taking the viewer on a journey up rooftops of buildings or through fleetingly tranquil scenes, these paintings come to life through film. The scenes are an evocation of the artist’s belief in the need to look around and see the little things.
Fascinated with the Jo’burg inner city from a young age, Lehobye’s works invite not only an alternate gaze but also an active participation by the viewer to become the subject within the mixed media pieces.

EKURHULENI PRIZE WINNER: SETHEMBISO ZULU
Vorsloorus | Ekurhuleni South

Sethembiso Zulu’s ability as an artist working primarily as a documentary and performance photographer is evident in his oeuvre which oscillates between themes concerning black social and cultural life and spirituality. Zulu’s body of work, which has consistently grown over the past two decades in meaningful and generative ways, provides a unique lens to view South Africa’s contemporary history.
Vosloorus-born Zulu attained an affinity for the photographic medium at an early age which he continued to traverse in years to come. Taking a liking to “camera work”, he explored it through being a multimedia content producer for various media outlets and of course through his own artistic practice.
Zulu acquired and honed his artistic skills at the renowned Art Foundation established by the equally revered artist Bill Ainslie and his wife Fieke. Following this early career training and having completed his studies in Graphic Design and Web Development, he committed to fully studying photography at the Market Photo Workshop.
Zulu has attained numerous awards and has had works featured in several group exhibitions. In 2021, North-West University in Potchefstroom hosted Zulu’s debut Solo exhibition titled Ikhaya Lika Moya. The 2015 series titled “Ikist” was published in the internationally-acclaimed photographic magazine Camera Austria International in 2021. His series Jazz Colossus (2009-2019) reflecting quotidian experiences of township and urban living is equally enthralling.
But it is through these specific series: Inzila, Ngithunywe Yis’Thunywa, Ukwambulelwa, and Ikhaya Lika Moya, that one gets a clearer sense of his musings on ancestry and divination practice.

‘Ngithunywe YisiThunywa”/ “Summoned by the prophetic spirit”
that began in 2021 is a visual representation that offers a glimpse of curiosity in my formative years before aligning myself with the bearer of the ancestral gift. This series is deeply rooted in the uncertainty of being unaware and understanding the visions. The veneration of the departed, including one’s ancestors, is an expression of their fondness, appreciation, celebration, and respect. This triptych is part of a series that references the turmoil embroiled with mystery that most healers find themselves in, during their seminal stage of their spiritual journey. The bearer of my spiritual gift is my maternal grandmother who passed on years before I was born. She was a devoted Zion Church-goer. In my culture, we believe the deceased have a continued existence and own the ability to influence the fortunes of the living.

Ngithunywe Yis’Thunywa embodies a representation through a physical and metaphorical lens, bringing to the foreground notions of often mystifying spiritual intercessions. The body of work simultaneously encapsulates and broadens the notion of the healers’ journey, bringing to light what may be concealed. Zulu’s works personify unspoken and tacit experiences by bringing them to life through powerful imagery. The navigation and continuous conversation between the living and those who have passed on to a different realm is the framework used by Zulu to create visual expressions through his artistry.

LIZAMORE & ASSOCIATES MENTORSHIP PROGRAMME WINNER: NONO MOTLHOKI
Mabopane | Tshwane

Motlhoki Nono (b. 1998 in Mabopane, Pretoria) completed her Honours in Fine Art at the University of the Witwatersrand, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with five distinctions. Her studio practice is currently based in Johannesburg, where she uses Video and Printmaking as tools to investigate the textures of intimacies and violences that are implicated in romantic love.
Nuanced ideas of inheritance, consumption, texture, and materiality are embodied in her work. Her practice is characterised by a valorisation, problematisation and curiosity towards Black love, and abstract narratives and relationalities of space. She defines her practice as a decolonial and sociological enquiry into love. Currently, Motlhoki is engaged in materialising abstract, intangible and fragile forms of love, into tangible gestures. She is interested in how the texture of the feeling is woven into specific acts.
The artist’s work has appeared widely, with notable group and collaborative exhibitions including ‘Textile Visions’ Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg –South Africa (2020); ‘The Nonrepresentational’ Stevenson Gallery, Johannesburg –South Africa (2020), ‘Now-Now’ Gallery114 in Portland –USA (2020); ‘Now Bite The Hand That Feeds You’ Boda Boda Lounge International Video Festival, Tangier –Morocco (2020); ‘NEWWORK’ The Point of Order, Johannesburg –South Africa (2020); ‘City SALTS: Boda Boda Lounge’ SALTS, Basel –Switzerland (2021); and more.
Notable awards and invitations include the Thami Mnyele Top 100 Fine Arts Awards (2018); Design Indaba Top 50 Emerging Creatives (2020); Thabo Mbeki Women’s Day Foundation (2019), On the Utility of Hands and Holding: A Discussion on Love, Work and Space at KZNSA Gallery (2020).

Motlhoki Nono is a fine artist who uses Video and Printmaking as tools to investigate the textures of intimacies and violences that are implicated in romantic love.
Currently, she is engaged in materialising abstract, intangible and fragile forms of love, into tangible gestures. Interested in how the texture of the feeling is woven into specific acts, the interplay between ‘love’ and ‘materiality’ finds form through the representations of love the artist creates. Her exploration of curated expressions of love has driven her to push for shifts towards more liberated exchanges. Her work is informed by her desire to agitate for a centering of the narratives of Black love as a universal experience and she defines her practice as a decolonial and sociological enquiry into love.
Vernacular encounters with love are used as a motif to expand on notions of what is implicit as well as sites of materiality that emerge from tacit expressions. Her practice is characterised by a valorisation, problematisation and curiosity towards Black love, as well as abstract narratives and relationalities of space.
Her video practice and the thematics of love offer contemporary insights into poetic and unwitting violences associated with certain performances of love. Through this process the works also intend to privilege the endearing aspects of Black love. Motlhoki Nono has a studio practice currently based in Johannesburg.

AUGUST HOUSE EMERGING RESIDENCY ARTIST AWARD: JESSICA FROHLICH
Randburg | Johannesburg

Jessica Frohlich is a 21-year-old artist who has dedicated a significant amount of her life towards the pursuit of visual arts. Influenced by her grandmother, whom she lovingly calls Narna, Frohlich received tutelage at an early age by joining the classes taught by this matriarch. Feeding the obsession with constantly feeling the need to find a visual and creative outlet started with the classes taught by her grandmother.
Gaining the tools she needed through training enabled her to forge ahead on her creative journey. Preferring to use the pseudonym Schleazel when dealing with the outside world, the artist is actively creating a unique body of work.
A collagist at heart, Frohlich’s imprint is expressed in multiple formats. The exploratory nature of art has given her the room to experiment. It’s through this that she has found that she has come to love having the ability to mix and match or even attempting to completely reinvent mediums.
Through the pursuit of studies in visual arts at the University of Johannesburg, she has been able to further unpack her artistic process, thinking and voice. In the two years since enrolling, she has continued to be open to the process of coming into her own as an artist. The artwork she makes encapsulates her renowned mad, quirky and off-the-wall personality and features and expressive quality.

My pseudonym Schleazel is often used when dealing with the outside world, although my given name is Jessica Frohlich. Inspired by the influence of my grandmother Narna training me from a young age artistically, I have continued to explore the bounds of my artistry.
I am a 21 year-year-old artist or at the very least an artist in training and this obsession with constantly feeling the need to find a visual and creative outlet started at a very young age.
My grandmother, whom I lovingly termed Narna, used to and still does teach an art class more geared towards everyday working joes. I, being the rambunctious child I was, would ceaselessly find new and inventive ways of sneaking into the art class. After what appears to be years of tormenting my poor Narna she finally caved and would go on to allow me the honour of being in her class, and it was from that point onwards that my creative journey started. However, this would only become known to me years later when I was given the opportunity to further study the visual arts at the University of Johannesburg, something at the time I was not sure was the right choice for me but as the saying goes, ‘mother knows best’.
It has been approximately two years and still I find myself mesmerized by the things I have learned and have been able to do. The artwork I make is filled with a sense of accomplishment and embodies my renowned mad, quirky, and off-the-wall personality.

HONORABLE MENTION AWARD: SINEAD FLETCHER
Boksburg | Ekurhuleni South

Sinead Fletcher is an artist currently pursuing a Masters in Fine Art qualification at the University of Johannesburg. Fletcher has shown her work in numerous group shows at venues which include the Art@Africa in Cape Town, Alliance Francaise and Constitutional Hill in Johannesburg, South Africa. Her work explores different aspects of her identity and the human experience. Over a number of years her body of work has developed in generative ways, with her exploration of identity finding form through various visual expressions.
Thought-provoking subject matter underpins the essence of Fletcher’s artistic practice. The ongoing enquiry into notions of identity has found expression through the artist’s body of work. Growing up in Boksburg surrounded and fully immersed in a specific iteration of whiteness has given Fletcher a nuanced understanding. Through this lens the approach has often offered insight into ancestral lineages that have inherently linked Fletcher to whiteness spanning across continents globally. The engagement with this tension has led to a continuous self-reflexive artistry.
Notions of whiteness have continued to form a thread through Fletcher’s work, informing her probing, curiosity and dissociation. Her lived experiences as a white woman and the impositions of whiteness onto her, form a rich tapestry on which her artistry is shaped.

Exploring identity is important but can also cause hurt, discomfort and displacement. These feelings may then lead to a disassociation from a certain characteristic of your identity.
Disassociation is an artwork that criticizes and reflects on my identity as a young white woman within South Africa. I explore my family history, the history of colonialism and the role that white people played within it, the trauma and consequences that need to be dealt with by the white youth, life experience and conversations, quotes and images that all relate to my whiteness.
The exploration into my white identity is an uncomfortable journey with many issues around guilt, shame and discomfort. Because of this, I have attempted to disassociate from my white identity because I feel overwhelmed by whiteness and its connotations and stereotypes. This art installation is meant to place the viewer within an overwhelming white space so that the viewer may get a sense of the intense and overbearing nature of whiteness and my relationship to it.
This momentous lack of continuity of particular influences that may have shaped this identity of whiteness, emerges at this juncture to inform the artwork. Notions of social phenomena that have sustained whiteness are probed by the artist through a self-reflexive engagement with this discourse. Navigating the tensions that arise at this point have resulted in an ongoing critical reflection on feelings of disassociation.