Premier Announces Names of Invited Artists For Nobel Square Project

"The Nobel Square project has every potential to make a lasting contribution to reconciliation and nation-building in South Africa. The final sculptures honouring our Nobel Peace Prize laureates will stand in perpetuity as symbols to carry the message of peace into our future. It is therefore critical that the artwork is of a calibre equivalent to the achievements of the laureates themselves."

These were the words of Western Cape Premier, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, accompanied by the Chairperson of V&A Waterfront Holdings, Prof. Fatima Abrahams, and Mrs Hilda Ndude, Chairperson of the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront.

The Premier was speaking at a ceremony held to announce the names of the artists who have been invited to participate in the Nobel Square Project. Officially launched on 14 December last year, as an initiative of the Western Cape Government, the project aims to honour the late Nkosi Albert Luthuli, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, and former President's FW de Klerk and Nelson Mandela for their contributions to South Africa and world peace.

"Our Government sees this as a national project that will be located in the Western Cape," said the Premier, "We are therefore delighted to welcome to our province today a group of South Africa's most accomplished and visionary sculptors - each from a very different background, but each an acknowledged master of their craft. We are very grateful that they have accepted our invitation to share with us their interpretation of this important and deeply historic theme."

Ten artists were recommended to the Nobel Square Project Committee by the Nobel Square Technical Committee, chaired by Prof. Sandra Klopper and comprising a number of art and public sculpture experts. The recommendations were the result of weeks of thorough research and wide-ranging consultations. The artists are currently meeting in Cape Town for a briefing and orientation session, as well as their first visit to Nobel Square where the sculptures will be erected.

"We are particularly pleased that these talented men and women have journeyed from all parts of South Africa, from places like Venda, Port Elizabeth, and the Karoo to be part of this process. One of the artists has even returned from New York to be with us today. We regard the Nobel Square Project and its culmination later this year as a vital part of our official celebrations of the first Ten Years of Democracy in South Africa and the Western Cape. In this year we reconnect with the achievements and challenges of the past - what better way to do so than by honouring four of our greatest sons?"

The artists will have until Wednesday, 7 April 2004 to submit maquettes and drawings of their proposals for the project to the Technical Committee - with the outcome of the selection process due to be announced next month, and the final unveiling of the sculptures set for on or near 16 December.

"The biggest challenge for our ten artists is to capture not only the personalities of our four laureates - but also the ideals for which they are honoured. We must create a setting at Nobel Square that celebrates their achievements but which also offers visitors a chance for reflection and contemplation," said Professor Abrahams.

Adding a word of thanks, Professor Abrahams said: "We must also acknowledge today the hard word and dedication of the Nobel Square Project Committee and the Technical Committee under the overall leadership of Frank Kilbourn. Their commitment to this project has enabled a difficult selection process to be skilfully undertaken, and we thank them for their efforts thus far."

The artists invited to participate in the Nobel Square Project are:

Bonita Alice

Bonita completed her B.A. in Fine Art at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1984 and her MA with distinction at Michaelis of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, in 1990. Alice has worked extensively as a lecturer at institutions such as the Funda Centre, Soweto, the University of Natal and Parktown College and taught sculpture at the Technikon Witwatersrand until the end of 2003. She is now a full-time artist.

Isaac Makaleni

Born in 1950 in Goodwood, Cape Town, Isaac Makaleni is a self-taught sculptor working mainly with wood. His interest in the arts was awakened when as a twelve-year old he was exposed to arts on trips to the Transkei. Isaac started sculpting in 1980 after being involved in a hit and run incident. In 1992 he started the Masivuke ma-Africa Arts project. He is currently teaching part-time art classes at the Zolani Community Centre in Nyanga and surrounding community schools.

Andries Botha

Andries was born in 1952 in Durban and began to make sculpture in 1971 at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, where he obtained his Fine Arts degree in 1976. In 1978, he taught in Durban before becoming a lecturer at the Technikon Natal, Durban. He held his first exhibition in 1974. Operating in the arena of what Botha terms 'cultural citizenship', his work engages with the broader society and has included a number of community projects and alternative educational forums. Reading both the body and the land as contested territory with sub-texts of past violence, Botha utilises the metaphor of the map to link the two. A concern with memory and the 'archiving' of physical and emotional information has become a consistent theme in his work.

Noria Mabasa

As a young child, sculptor Noria Mabasa from Limpopo was already breaking gender stereotypes. Born to a family with few sons, her duties included tending the family's animals - a job usually left to the boys. It is a pattern that seems to repeat itself through her life. Mabasa is one of the foremost artists using the Venda myths and legends in her work. She works in wood - a medium traditionally associated in Venda culture with men. Her twisted wooden figures of The Flood (1994) and Union Buildings (1999) are some of her better known works. Mabasa also makes figurative ceramics, some of which were included in the first Johannesburg Biennale in 1994.

Peter Hall

Peter Hall was born in Durban in 1961 and studied Fine Art at Technikon Natal. He has been a full-time sculptor for the last four years and works mainly in bronze. Over the last four years he has completed several public sculptures, memorials and commissions like "Spirit of Emakhosini".

Johannes Maswanganyi

Johannes was born in 1949, Msengi Village, Gazankulu. Taught by his father from 1965 he is a sculptor of figures and animals who works in wood, he learnt his trade by carving household objects. By the mid 1970's, he was making figurative shaped medicine containers, in keeping with Tsonga carving practice, many of which are decoratively carved by burning into the surface of the wood. He is also known for his high-gloss painted carved caricatures of religious and media personalities and politicians, from Christ to Nelson Mandela. He has participated in many group exhibitions in South Africa, e.g at the Market Gallery, Johannesburg in 1987, the Johannesburg Art Gallery in 1988 and Vita Art Now 2000 in Knysna.

Claudette Schreuders

Claudette was born on February 6, 1973 in Pretoria, South Africa. She matriculated from Linden High School in Johannesburg in 1990, graduated BA(FA) from the University of Stellenbosch in 1994 and obtained her M.F.A. degree from the University of Cape Town in 1997. Claudette Schreuders creates carved and painted wooden figures that reflect the ambiguities of the search for an 'African' identity in the post-apartheid 21st century. Her figures demonstrate a hybrid canon influenced by the blolo and colon figures of West Africa, as well as other stylistic input from medieval church sculpture, Spanish portraiture and Egyptian woodcarving. Narrative and story-telling are fundamental to the reading of her figures, which is why Schreuders opts to show small bodies of work as sculptural installations. Schreuders' figures are essentially modern deities for modern problems, taking with them the blolo figures' potential to 'cure', as well as engaging with issues around foreignness and hostility and the means we use to create a space for ourselves in a perceived 'alien' environment.

Anton Momberg

A South African sculptor of portraits and figures, Anton works in bronze, wood, ceramics and polyester resin, and his style is distinctly classical. He studied at the Port Elizabeth Technikon under Hillary Graham and Neil Rodger, and gained a Teachers Diploma in Fine Art. He went on to become a lecturer in Fine Art at the Technikon and was a member of the EPSFA and of the GAP Group. He has participated in several group exhibitions in South Africa and more recently in London. He has undertaken various public commissions in Port Elizabeth, Stellenbosch and Cape Town.

Johannes Segogela

Johannes was born in Sekukuniland, North West Province, in 1936. An artist from a very strong tribal background, he started his career relatively late in life without any formal training.In 1995 he was the Guest Artist at the Standard Bank National Arts Festival and was honoured with an exhibition of his work from the past decade. A self-taught sculptor of figures and animals, he works in wood that he combines with mixed media. Without any formal education or training, he began carving and painting wooden sculptures based on the two main themes: Christianity and the ANC.Since 1985 he has participated in many group exhibitions in South Africa, mainly with Linda Givon at the Goodman Gallery. He also exhibited extensively at the Basle Art Fair, the Venice Biennale, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and in London where he showed at the Serpentine Gallery.

Willem Strydom

Willem Strydom was born in 1954 in Johannesburg, Gauteng. In 1975 he obtained a National Diploma and National Higher Diploma in Fine Arts (Sculpture) at the Johannesburg College of Art. In 1978 he pursued his Postgraduate studies at St Martin's School of Art, London, UK. He obtained his MA (FA) at the University of Natal in 1984. Strydom is an experienced artist who has received numerous awards for his work. He was also a lecturer in the Fine Arts at the Universities of Natal and Witwatersrand respectively. His professional experience includes working with two master carvers, Enzo and Pasquino Pasquini in Italy.