WITSIES WITH THE EDGE
AWA R D S
BUHLEBEZWE SIWANI 2021 Standard Bank Young Artist: Visual Art “Objects perform, paper performs ... As an artist, it’s my job to blur the line, to see a piece of paper becoming something else – a carpet, a chair – and to make this believable, to allow the object to transcend the initial physical limitations that we place on it,” says Buhlebezwe Siwani (BA FA 2012), the 2021 recipient of the 2021 Standard Bank Young Artist Award in the Visual Art category. The annual award programme, which was established in 1981, is considered a prestigious acknowledgment for artists who demonstrated “exceptional ability in their chosen field”. She will receive a cash prize as well as financial backing for an exhibition at the National Arts Festival. “Honestly, being recognised by the people who map out the arts in our country is wonderful, everyone wants to be seen and so I am honoured to be seen in this category specifically,” she says via email. Siwani works in a variety of media – performance, installation, photography and video but also explores the creative possibilities of 22 W I T S R E V I E W
paper and sculpture. The National Arts Festival Artistic Committee says she has “a versatility which is especially notable in COVID-19 times”. At Wits, she was awarded the Heather Martienssen Prize (now Wits Young Artist Award) in 2010 and describes her experience at the university as “pretty intense”. “It changed the way I think. I went from regurgitating to actually formulating my own thoughts,” she says. Siwani went on to complete her postgraduate degree at the Michaelis School of Fine Arts with distinction in 2015 and was awarded the Katrine Harries postgraduate prize for “an outstanding body of work” for her master’s graduate show, titled Imfihlo (the secret). This was later published as a book.
YIMBASA YELIZWE
“My journey is my work, and my work is my journey... History informs me and history informs my decisions.”
Image: Eva Broekema
[BA FA 2012]
