From Identity to Innovation: The Story of Sasol New Signatures Through Its Winning Works
For decades, the Sasol New Signatures Visual Arts Competition has served as one of South Africa’s most important platforms for emerging artistic talent. Over the past fifteen years in particular, the competition’s winning works have offered a fascinating lens into the evolving concerns, identities and creative directions shaping contemporary South African art. From deeply personal reflections on […]
10 Reasons Emerging Artists Should Enter the 2026 Sasol New Signatures Competition
For more than six decades, the Sasol New Signatures Visual Arts Competition has played a defining role in discovering and elevating South Africa’s emerging visual artists. As the country’s longest-running and one of its most prestigious platforms for new artistic talent, the competition continues to open doors for artists looking to build sustainable creative careers. With just […]
Sasol New Signatures Equips Emerging Artists Through Online Information Sessions Ahead of 2026 Competition Submissions
The prestigious Sasol New Signatures Visual Arts Competition is once again opening its virtual doors to aspiring artists through a series of online Information Sessions designed to guide and inspire entrants ahead of the 2026 competition. As one of South Africa’s longest-running and most respected platforms for emerging visual artists, the annual competition is open to all […]
Honours student from Gqeberha wins the 2025 Sasol New Signatures with interactive ceramic work
Pretoria, South Africa – Juandré van Eck (25), an Honours student from the Nelson Mandela University in Gqeberha has been announced as the winner of the 2025 Sasol New Signatures Visual Arts Competition for his ceramic piece titled Cycles of the mind. Van Eck, a merit winner in 2024, takes home a cash prize of […]
Miné Kleynhans Solo Exhibition | Augury After Autogogues
Exhibition Statement Augury After Autogogues playfully and satirically stages a kind of speculative mysticism that indulges the sovereignty of ‘personal truth’. In a time when shared systems of belief are breaking down and facts are met with scepticism, the exhibition imagines the advent of the Autogogue: a self-guided mystic who looks inward for meaning — […]
Owethu Vuyokazi Montsikelelo Sobuwa (Gqeberha)
Ulwaluko I & II Cotton fabric print and hessian; pine wood wrapped in cotton Two Part: 115 cm x 60 cm; 45 cm x 15 cm x 13 cm ARTIST’S STATEMENT Ulwaluko is a two-part mixed media work that reflects on the transformation of Xhosa boys into men, not to critique the sacred rite itself, […]
Jessie Elliott (Gqeberha)
Mind Full. Mind Less Multimedia – Audio Visual Edition 1 of 5 124 seconds ARTIST’S STATEMENT In this video, I explore the transference of the mental state into the physical through repetitive processes and tedious tasks. The physical act of each of these processes becomes a meditative action, allowing my brain to quiet and work […]
Sello Ronald Letswalo (Johannesburg) | Mapantsula
Mapantsula Acrylic and oil on reclaimed steel 74,5 cm x 123 cm Artist’s Statement Mapantsula, a work on steel is a visual tribute to the spirit of township street culture — its energy, rhythm, and resistance. Inspired by the Mapantsula movement, I use painting as a way to engage with a culture I deeply admire […]
Sello Ronald Letswalo (Johannesburg) | Mplankara
Mplankara Mixed media 70 cm x 63 cm x 64 cm Artist’s Statement My sculpture, Mplankara, is a celebration of the universal human impulse to create, adapt, and find joy in the face of limitation. At its heart lies the figure of a hybrid child — part human, part cow (my familial totem, kgomo) —riding a wooden […]
Hlumelo Mayekiso (Gqeberha) | Umntana ka Sotshintshi
Umntana ka Sotshintshi Red terracotta clay 18,5 cm x 18 cm x 18 cm ARTIST’S STATEMENT In Xhosa culture, bees play a significant role as ancestors or ancestral messengers. Their presence conveys a message sent from the ancestors, and in such cases, a goat has to be slaughtered or kusilwe umqombothi (brew African beer). As a great-grandchild […]