From 938 entries submitted across South Africa, 123 finalists’ artworks were selected to come to the Pretoria Art Museum for the 2026 Sasol New Signatures exhibition.
From 10 September to 8 November 2026, art appreciators get to view the works of all the talented 2026 finalists and winners alongside a solo exhibition by 2025 winner, Juandré van Eck, titled Die Vallei van Adem.
Meet the 2026 Sasol New Signatures Visual Arts Competition winners
The Sasol New Signatures Visual Arts Competition was first founded 60 years ago by the Association of Arts Pretoria and is supported by the City of Tshwane, the Pretoria Art Museum and Stuttaford Van Lines.
A judging panel consisting of Sasol New Signatures chairperson Pfunzo Sidogi, Sasol curator Cate Terblanche, curator Storm Janse van Rensburg, artist Usha Seejarim, and curator and researcher Nontobeko Ntombela were tasked with selecting the 2026 Sasol New Signatures overall winner, runner-up and five merit award winners.
Following a meticulous deliberation of over 100 works demonstrating the incredible standard of creativity in South Africa, the judges selected Sphumelele Zondi’s (26) powerful mixed-media work, The laundry of a nation as the overall winner and Sive Ntombana’s (23) important practiced-based research project Umlandeli as runner-up.
In The laundry of a nation, Zondi reflects on the emotional and social inheritance carried by young people within contemporary South Africa. Drawing from the visual language of clothing, labour, domesticity and repetition, the work considers how national histories continue to live within ordinary bodies and everyday materials.
In many South African homes, clothing exists beyond appearance. It carries labour, survival, class, memory, religion and economic struggle. Garments move between siblings, neighbours, workers, schools, churches and communities, slowly absorbing the emotional conditions of the environments through which they pass. Within this context, clothing becomes both witness and archive.
Runner-up Ntombana’s work titled Umlandeli, forms part of a practice-based research project exploring the concept of trauma in the Xhosa rural Eastern Cape. The body of work examines how trauma is interpreted, engaged with and experienced in different states through a reflexive perspective.
“I work with ingcawe (a traditional Xhosa white blanket featuring a distinct dark or black stripe) and collected ochres to reference the rural,” said Ntombana. “Through collecting and working with ochres, I invoke ukusula, a mural painting practice in the Mpondo rural area, to think about healing in practice and as a practice.”
For their achievements in the Sasol New Signatures Visual Arts Competition, Zondi receives a R100 000 cash prize and the opportunity to present a solo exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum in 2027, while Ntombana wins R25 000 in cash.
The Merit Award-winning artists
Sphumelele Zondi and Sive Ntombana weren’t the only artists to go home with prizes following final judging. The panel also award five talented creators with Merit Awards, allowing each of them to walk away with a R10 000 cash prize.
The five Merit Award-winning works include Charlie de Bruto’s (21) mixed media work Ball buster, Inga Lokwe’s (28) glass, metal and wood composition titled Qula kwedini, Wisani Manyisi’s (41) mixed media work on paper titled Dance of memory, Thomas Masingi’s (35) digital photography on true ivory in his The desire to become one series, and Charné Mungur’s (49) steel artwork titled Echoes of silence.
How to visit
Cost: Entry fees of R7pp to R30pp may apply
When: Exhibition runs from 10 September to 8 November 2026 during museum hours which are: Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm
Where: Pretoria Art Museum, Cnr Francis Baard and Wessels Str, Arcadia Park, Arcadia, Pretoria
Website: sasolsignatures.co.za
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 012 346 3100 / 083 288 5117
Instagram: @sasolnewsignatures
Facebook: @SasolNewSignatures
