The award ceremony, which will recognize artists and productions in music, theatre and visual art at the just ended festival will take place at a gala ceremony in Cape Town on April 22, 2022.

By Edward Tsumele at the KKNK Festival in the Karoo

During the 26^th Klein Karoo National Arts Festival (KKNK), which recently took place in the Karoo town of Oudtshoorn, ending on Sunday, April 3, 2022,  I had an opportunity to indulge in witnessing some of the most exciting talent the country has with regards to theatre, visual art and music. There was also an exciting art talk programme hosted by Yoyisani Magwebu from ABSA and independent  curator Sarah McGhee.

This festival, which has a predominantly Afrikaans flavour relating to language and other cultural markers, was an eye opener. There were simply many artistic programmes to choose from. However when it came to the visual art aspect of it, I personally was torched by the various exhibitions in the Prince Vincent Building. The building in its massive gallery housed several exhibitions of outstanding curatorial quality. My pick though is Dineke van der Walt’s curation of Rich in Fibre exhibition. The display of visual artist Nkensani Rihlampfu’s exhibition An Orchestrated Reality, curated by Sarah McGhee was as eye catching as it was visually appealing.

The giant sculptures of wood and rope, were simply too stunning to ignore.  After all it is these sculptural works that won him an ABSA L’Atelier Award in 20119. They deal with the emotional issue of land that still remains unresolved till this day after the land dispossessions of the past that left families landless and therefore poor both spiritually and materially. For his efforts the artist has been picked by an KKNK panel as a nominee for The Best contribution to the Visual Arts category of KKNK aligned Kanna Prize, alongside Karin Preller for the exhibition Beyond Memory and Dineke van der Walt as curator of Rich in Fibre

The Kanna prizes, an awards ceremony traditionally held after the festival to acknowledge exceptional creative contributions during the festival, will be presented on Friday 22 April 2022, in Cape Town.

The independent Kanna panel had Rafiek Mammon as its convenor, and included Gary Naidoo, Laetitia Pople, Diane de Beer, Alby Michaels, Marguerite Robinson and Robyn van de Rhede.

Mammon said: “We, as an independent panel, literally sat in a room every morning before eight to discuss the five or six productions we saw the previous day. And every morning – up to the last day of the festival – these conversations were drenched in passion, seriousness, and love. It is not just that we could have a festival in person, and to have been able to see and hear artists live. It was also about the quality of the work. The quality of the productions at the KKNK was so good the panel literally struggled in putting together a shortlist of nominees under the variety of valued offerings.”

All productions on this year’s festival programme were eligible for the 14 awards, but an additional Herrie Award, as well as two other special awards, will be announced at the ceremony later this month.

The rest of the nominees

Best debut production (music or theatre)

Die halwe huis

Karatara

Ek, Anna van Wyk

Terminaal 3

Best theatre production

Karatara

Ek, Anna van Wyk

Op hierie dag

Terminaal 3

Best music production

Emo Adams and Take Note

Nataniël: PRIMA DONNA

Anna Davel: 21

Best contribution to the visual arts

Karin Preller for the exhibition Beyond Memory

Dineke van der Walt as curator of Rich in Fibre

The artist Nkensani Rihlampfu for the exhibition An Orchestrated Reality

Slurpie Prize: best upcoming artist

Janion Kennedy for his performance in Op hierie dag

Marinda Ntantiso for her performance in Op hierie dag

Conradie van Heerden for his performance in the short-piece Om skoon te wee Adriaan Havenga for his performance and text in the short-piece Om skoon te wees

Best actress

Antoinette Kellermann for die oerkluts kwyt

Tinarie van Wyk Loots for Ek, Anna van Wyk

Carla Smith for Terminaal 3

Anna-Mart van der Merwe for Terminaal 3

Best actor

Marlo Minnaar for Die halwe huis

Wessel Pretorius for Kiss of the Spiderwoman

Stian Bam for Terminaal 3

Edwin van der Walt for Terminaal 3

Best supporting actor

Carlo Daniels for Ek, Anna van Wyk

Wilhelm van der Walt for Ek, Anna van Wyk

Geon Nel for Ek, Anna van Wyk

Albert Pretorius for Ek, Anna van Wyk

Best supporting actress

The Ancient Voices: Nomapostile Nyiti and Lungiswa Plaatjies for die oerkluts kwyt

René Cloete for Ek, Anna van Wyk

Marinda Ntantiso for Op hierie dag

Best director

Neil Coppen and Tiffany Saterdaght for Op hierie dag

Marthinus Basson for Ek, Anna van Wyk

Gideon Lombard for Karatara

Marthinus Basson for Terminaal 3

Best theatre design

Op hierie dag – Zietske Zaaiman, supported by the company

Ek, Anna van Wyk – Marthinus Basson

Karatara – soundtrack and design by Gideon Lombard

Excellent literary contribution

Frieda van den Heever for adaptation of die oerkluts kwyt from the work of Antjie Krog

Ricardo Arendse for the newly written text Die halwe huis

Tiffany Saterdaght and Neil Coppen, with contributions from Janion Kennedy, Hannes Visser, Theo Witbooi and Danny B, for the text of Op hierie dag

Best children’s or youth theatre

Pietersielie en Roosmaryn vertel stories

Liewe Heksie en die rolskaatse

Best Lucky Pakkie production

Coligny Laer

Ruby en Roach – ’n animasieprent

Om skoon te wees

Onder in die bad