04/11/2026
𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐒𝐔𝐋𝐔 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐄𝐗𝐇𝐈𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐔𝐓𝐒 𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄, 𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐎𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐅𝐎𝐂𝐔𝐒
Nine emerging artists are using their creative voices to examine the world around them, bringing questions of culture, identity, memory and social experience into focus at the annual Walter Sisulu Advanced Diploma Fine Art Exhibition.
Opened at the Ann Bryant Art Gallery in kuGompo City on Tuesday evening, 3 November, the exhibition presents ceramics, printmaking and paintings.
The works will remain on display throughout the following month, offering audiences an opportunity to encounter artistic interpretations of histories, cultural practices and contemporary realities.
Advanced Diploma Programme Coordinator, Dr Zingisa Nkosinkulu, said the exhibition reflects the students’ ability to use art as a means of inquiry and engagement.
“Quite importantly, the collection demonstrates how artistic practice can become a way of investigating personal experiences, questioning social realities and engaging with cultural knowledge,” he said.
Among the featured works is Asanda Sikiti’s painting, The Devaluation/Evaluation of Xhosa Culture: Umgidi, which interrogates the commercialisation of umgidi, the Xhosa celebration marking an initiate’s return.
Sikiti considers how a practice with communal and spiritual meaning can become increasingly associated with materialism, alcohol consumption and public spectacle.
His work raises questions about cultural change and the preservation of tradition, while making clear that its intention is not to condemn the culture or its people.
“This body of work is not to slander the culture and its people, but to critique and hold a mirror to reflect. As someone within the culture, I ask whether Xhosa culture is evolving or devolving,” he said.
Cultural identity is also explored by Aphelele Khohliso, whose ceramic work examines intonjane, the Xhosa female initiation tradition, and by Yonela Mpisi, whose printmaking considers expressions of Zulu identity across KwaZulu-Natal.
Other works confront social challenges and the influence of lived experience.
Angel Matshidiso Dlamini’s Poder Femenino: It’s Okay to Be addresses period poverty, menstrual stigma, dignity and access to menstrual products.
In The Body Keeps Score, Liphumile Nkangana reflects on trauma associated with childhood experiences, corporal punishment and car accidents, and how such experiences remain with the body.
The collection also moves through memory, belonging and self-discovery.
Bathandwa Danxa’s ceramic project, Rewind, revisits cassette culture, music technologies and the connections they fostered, while Ayema Leleki’s Life as I Know It explores childhood, independence, resilience and identity.
In painting, Thato Nkumbi considers skateboarding as an expression of freedom, movement and urban self-expression. Yalezo Mangesi’s Urban Jungle examines nature in neglected urban spaces, reflecting on decay, resilience and coexistence.
"Together, the nine artists offer more than a display of technical ability. Their works create a conversation between individual experience and collective memory, inviting audiences to question narratives and consider the cultural and social worlds they inhabit," said Nkosinkulu.
The evening also served as a celebration of the best performing students in th department – an achievement that was celebrated with the handing out of certificates to those who exhibited academic prowess throughout the 2026 academic year.
