Artworks by the participants in Nando’s Creative Exchange 2022 will be exhibited at the Association for Visual Arts (AVA) Gallery on Church Street in Cape Town’s city centre, with pieces from artists Sifiso Temba, Velile Soha, Simon Venter and Tanja Truscott on show from 1 December 2022 to 12 January 2023.
Established in 2011 in partnership with Spier Arts Trust, the Nando’s Creative Exchange programme nurtures South African artists who demonstrate exceptional abilities and helps them develop their careers. The initiative offers exhibition and mentorship opportunities and art materials sponsorship.
Sifiso Temba is a printmaker, painter, drawer and sculptor who uses his observations of communities to tell unique stories. Velile Soha, a visual artist from Langa, Cape Town, uses his work to demonstrate township and rural life: ‘I want to show the outside world how my people live their lives,’ he says. Simon Venter, a self-taught artist from Gqeberha, is passionate about painting portraits, describing himself as ‘not simply an artist, but a painter’. Tanja Truscott, meanwhile, creates abstract pieces that are inspired by sounds, literature, poetry and music.
In preparation for the exhibition, the four artists were assigned an experienced mentor who provided curatorial and professional presentation advice, to enable future independence in approaching galleries professionally and planning successful art exhibitions. Pippa Hetherington, a renowned South African visual artist who has worked in lens-based work and documentaries over the last two decades, was the 2022 mentor.
Spier Arts Trust highly values the contribution of art to South Africa’s economy, the wellbeing of the country’s people and community cohesion, and hopes that through programmes like Nando’s Creative Exchange they can further develop visual-arts projects to contribute to the Southern African cultural environment.
Former Nando’s Creative Exchange participants have gone on to flourish in their careers as artists. Success stories include Tafadzwa Tega, who has had solo exhibitions at MOMO Gallery and the Cape Town Investec Art Fair, as well as shows in London, Italy, France and the United States. Robyn Pretorius, Fanie Buys and Effo Munguanzo have also gone on to exhibit both locally and internationally.
This edition of the free exhibition, open for art lovers and passersby alike, is taking place at AVA Gallery, the oldest non-profit gallery in Cape Town, for the sixth consecutive year.
For more information about Spier Arts Trust and Nando’s Creative Exchange visit https://nandoscreativity.co.za/nandos-creative-exchange-2022-the-artists/
