Popular FNB Art Joburg to kick off on September 1 as multi-disciplinary artist Dada  Khanyisa is declared winner of Art Prize

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/Arts Editor

On Thursday, August 18. 2022, the creative sector came in huge numbers to fill up a cosy restaurant in Sandton, in which the details of this year FNB Art Joburg were announced by the Mandla Sibeko owner of this popular art fair the oldest on the African continent.

Sibeko also announced this winner of this year’s Art Prize, Cape Town based young artist Dada Khanyisa, a fine art graduate from Michaelis at the University of Cape Town. Khanyisa said winning this award was unexpected and thanked the art echo system for its support especially to young artists still trying to find their feet in the industry.

Sibeko said that past winners of this award, such as Zimbabwean artist Portia  Zvavahere who since winning this award, her career has picked up momentum internationally, among other past winners.

It was also announced that this year, thanks to Covid-19 having receded into the back mind of many following the easing of restrictions, this year FNB Art Joburg, which takes place from September 1, 2022, is going back to its original home, the Sandton Convention Centre and is fully back to its original format of physically attendance by art collectors and art lovers.

This should be good news to the ears of the industry which since 2022, were deprived of enjoying the art fair fully since it had to find new ways of hosting the art fair without exposing people to the virus, including using digital technology to bring some sort of art experience to people while they are at home. It worked but it had its limitations, with several art patrons complaining that nothing beats attending an art fair in a physical way. It is however the winner of the Art Prize this year where the focus of the industry will be, besides of course enjoying viewing and collecting some of the best art pieces that several participating galleries will be showcasing by artists from the African continent.

“FNB Art Joburg is proud to announce the winner of this year’s FNB Art Prize: Dada Khanyisa. A multidisciplinary artist working in paint, sculpture and installation, with a focus on the contemporary Black experience, Dada Khanyisa’s work comments on the human condition as it plays out in social, financial and architectural contexts in metropolises like Johannesburg and Cape Town. 

Born in Umzimkhulu KZN  but raised in Johannesburg, Dada Khanyisa now lives and works in Cape Town. After studying Traditional and Digital Animation at the National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa, they went to the University of Cape Town’s Michaelis School of Fine Art and completed a Bachelor of Fine Art degree. 

“Receiving this prize is affirming, especially at this point in my career. Looking back at what has been five years of building a practice, developing a style and coming into my own as a maker of things, this prize is unexpected but welcomed conclusion to the introductory era,” says Khanyisa  

As the winner of the 2022 prize, Khanyisa will have a solo exhibition at Johannesburg Art Gallery where the largest art collection, on the continent, resides. 

As Africa’s leading and longest running contemporary art fair, FNB Art Joburg’s mandate is to sustainably support and grow the continent’s cultural offering in ways that go beyond the fair. One of the ways this is achieved is through the annual FNB Art Prize.

“When you look back at the calibre of artists who have won this prize, they do bring a lot of inspiration to all of us. They have used such interesting materials to interrogate important issues,” says Managing Director of FNB Art Joburg, Mandla Sibeko. “Dada Khanyisa is no different because they have contributed so much to the contemporary art landscape of South Africa not only in theme but the form and style of their work.”

With this prize, Dada Khanyisa joins previous winners Wycliffe Mundopa, Lady Skollie, Bronwyn Katz, Haroon Gunn-Salie, Peju Alatise, Nolan Oswald Dennis, Turiya Magadlela, Portia Zvavahera,  Nelisiwe Xaba, Mocke J van Veuren, and Kudzanai Chiurai. This in addition to receiving a cash prize as well as the above mentioned solo exhibition.

Bonga Sebesho, FNB Brand Experience Head adds, “We remain committed to supporting and growing the arts and creative economy in South Africa and Broader Africa. FNB’s 15-year involvement as a sponsor of this prestigious platform demonstrates our commitment to be a trusted partner that empowers artists to be change agents through their artwork and the communities that they live in. At FNB we believe that art plays a crucial role in the innovation and growth of the economy. We would like to congratulate Dada Khanyisa for winning the 2022 FNB Art Prize.”

Before winning the FNB Art Prize, Khanyisa received the Simon Gerson Prize at UCT in 2016. Before that as a merit winner at the SA Taxi Art Awards in 2015, their work was featured on 10 publicly operating taxis making their way through Johannesburg. Continuously looking to develop their practice, Khanyisa is currently in residence at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris. This is their second residency after 2018 saw them participating in a Fountainhead Residency in Miami. 

“I’d like to thank FNB Art Joburg for the prize, for watering my practice with this validation. Then to my family, for not asking any questions and supporting my dreams in very real ways like commissioning me to make portraits when I was still a kid to my mom for financing the foundation of the dream. I hope people see this and it encourages them to do right by the artists they see coming up in their families.”

In addition to showing work at art fairs in London, Miami and Hamburg, Khanyisa has had or participated in various art exhibitions. 

Their recent exhibitions are as follows:

SOLO

2020, Good Feelings (Stevenson, Johannesburg)

2018, Bamb’iphone (Stevenson, Cape Town)

GROUP SHOW

2022, Skin+Masks (Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago)

2022, Works on Paper (Stevenson, Cape Town)

2021, 021 – 2021 (Stevenson, Amsterdam)

2021, 40 under 40 (WHATIFTHEWORLD, Tulbagh)

2021, My Whole Body Changed Into Something Else (Stevenson, Cape Town)

2018, 9 More Weeks (Stevenson, Johannesburg)

2018, Both, And (Stevenson, Johannesburg)

2017, A Painting Today (Stevenson, Cape Town)

Tickets to the fair are now available via Tixsa on FNB Art Joburg www.artjoburg.com