Four of the seven Standard Bank Young Artist Awards have gone to Cape Town artists!
Free-spirited filmmaker Jahmil XT Qubeka has been named by the National Arts Festival as the winner of the 2014 Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Film.
Kyle Shepherd makes musical magic as 2014 SBYAA for Jazz.
The National Arts Festival’s 2014 Standard Bank Young Artist for Dance, goes to Nicola Elliott.
Twenty eight year old twin brothers Hasan and Husain Essop have been named by the National Arts Festival as the joint winners of the 2014 Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Visual Art.
Here follow details about these award winning artists from the proud Mother City.
Jahmil XT Qubeka – Film
Film – Jahmil Qubeka
Born in the Karoo and raised in East London, Qubeka’s films have screened in LA, San Francisco, New York, Florida, Cannes, Stolkholm, Amsterdam, Warsaw, Egypt, Nigeria, Zanzibar, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Busan in South Korea and Mumbai in India. He credits his filmmaking education to his mentor, fashion photographer and filmmaker Daron Chatz.
His HIV documentary Talk To Me (2005) won 5 international awards including a George Foster Peabody Award (for broadcasting), The Rose D’Or (Social Awareness Award), The Japan Prize (Best programme: education category) and awards at The Chicago International Film Festival (Gold Hugo Award), and World Media Festival (Gold Intermedia-globe).
He produced, co-wrote, and photographed the feature uMalusi (2009) before making his feature directorial debut with A Small Town Called Descent (2010). He has also made documentaries, television dramas and numerous commercials and music videos.His latest film, Of Good Report (2013) made international headlines when its premiere at the Opening of the 2013 Durban International Film Festival was prevented by censorship from the Film and Publications Board. (The ban has since been lifted.)
“My life has always been plagued by struggle and fight.” explains 34 year old Qubeka, “I am a loner, I am also an anarchist as well as a narcissist at heart; however becoming a father has evolved my perspective of life and what is important. What informs my work is my passion for the genesis of humanity – where we truly come from, why we are the way we are and where we are going.”
Profoundly affected by his own father’s suicide when he was just 13, he says, “If there is anything I want to pass on to my children, it is that there is no intermediary between them and their creator. Deep down, only they know why they are here, all I can do is support their endeavours.”
Qubeka talks about his proudest moment: “In the seventh grade I wrote, starred and directed a play loosely based on the King Arthur legend. My group got the highest score on this drama assignment. We took the audience by storm that day. We got a standing ovation that brought tears to my eyes. It’s the only thing I have ever done creatively where I was fully satisfied by my efforts. We would have gotten full marks if Merlin’s beard had not fallen off!”
Qubeka says he’s always known that he is an artist and a storyteller, and that it was evident from an early age. His father was wealthy at a time when Black people in South Africa were ‘not allowed to be rich’. His wealth – garnered mostly through somewhat nefarious means – allowed the young Jahmil to indulge his passion for film; and between the ages of 7 and 13, he devoured cinema to the point that he was a walking, talking film encyclopaedia. In primary school, he once got into trouble for lending bootleg copies of movies out to friends. At the time he didn’t understand what the fuss was all about, but in retrospect concedes that kids in the 5th grade had no business watching films like 9 1/2 Weeks, Blue Velvet or the banned version of Lady Chatterley’s Lover. He admits to negotiating his way out of it by supplying his teacher with a copy of Basic Instinct.
Qubeka undertook a train journey from Johannesburg with ‘a bunch of mates’ thirteen years ago, for his first trip to the National Arts Festival. “What I encountered was an enveloping and eclectic experience that will forever be with me. The Festival is at the core of local artistic expression. It is the very pulse of South African artistic endeavour.” he explains.
That trip coincided with the genesis of his career as a filmmaker: “I have been a filmmaker for thirteen years now, to have your work recognised in such a manner is the ultimate form of affirmation.” he says, on winning the Young Artist Award. “What makes it even more special is that it’s recognition from outside my own industry. The path of a maverick is usually a lonely one where affirmation does not come easily.”
Kyle Shepherd – Jazz
Jazz – Kyle Shepherd
Capetonian pianist, saxophonist, composer and band leader – Kyle Shepherd – has been named by the National Arts Festival as the 2014 Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz.
Shepherd’s family is quite musical, so he has been around classical and jazz musicians – and their music – from a young age. He started studying (classical) violin at 5 years old, but recalls watching a concert by Abdullah Ibrahim as a 15 year old, and deciding that he wanted to be part of music-making in that way; switching to the piano, jazz and his own compositions as a result.
Despite having recorded 4 albums and toured playing his own music in concerts in 15 countries through Africa, Europe and Asia; he remains very proud to walk onto the stage, at every concert, in every country; but holds dear a number of particularly special musical memories: “In February of 2013 I played a solo piano concert at The Sendesaal in Bremen, Germany, which is the same venue and stage that the great Keith Jarrett played and recorded in 40 years ago, and my concert was also recorded and broadcast on national German radio.” he elaborates.
The 26 year old pianist, saxophonist, Xaru (traditional mouth-bow) player, vocalist and poet is regarded as one of South Africa’s most influential and accomplished Jazz musicians. Shepherd strives to make music that says something personal, and has forged a compositional and performance concept that pays homage to his musical influences and collaborators, while continuing to push boundaries musically. He has many inspirations – some musical and some non-musical – and finds that life influences music a lot more then directly musical things d o. “I’m most inspired by people that think creatively in whichever field they are. It could be a musician, a poet, a chef, a racing car driver… someone that changes the game and goes against the norm,” he says.
A long association with jazz in Grahamstown includes having played piano in the Standard Bank National Schools Jazz Band in 2003 and 2004. A concert he attended as a student at the Standard Bank Youth Jazz Festival is the moment that he credits with “changing my life and music”, when, at 17 years old, Shepherd saw Zim Ngqawana perform with his quartet. Ngqawana would go on to become his teacher and friend, and recorded on the album “South African History !X”.
Shepherd regularly performs as a solo pianist, while also leading his Trio with Shane Cooper (double bass) and Jonno Sweetman (drums), and his Quartet featuring Claude Cozens (drums), Benjamin Jephta (bass) and top South African tenor saxophonist Buddy Wells. He has released three critically acclaimed albums to date namely, ‘fineART’, ‘A Portrait of Home’ and ‘South African History !X’, and has earned South African Music Award nominations for all three of his album releases, in the Jazz Category. His first Solo Piano Album, recorded in Japan, is set for release in 2013.
Shepherd has performed with many great musicians, including the likes of the Late Zim Ngqawana, Louis Moholo-Moholo, the Late Robbie Jansen, Errol Dyers, Hilton Schilder, Mark Fransman and Ayanda Sikade, all from South Africa, as well as Saadet Türköz (Switzerland), Marc Stucki (Switzerland), Seigo Matsunaga (Japan), Sebastiaan Kaptein (Holland) and Ole Hamre (Norway). Notable concert appearances have taken place at The Bird’s Eye Jazz Club (Switzerland), Der Sendesaal (Germany), Reformierte Dorfkirche Kleinhüningen (Switzerland), Klubschule St. Gallen (Switzerland), Shikiori (Japan), The Aarhus Jazz Festival (Denmark), Jazzwerkstatt Festival Bern (Switzerland), The Cape Town International Jazz Festival (South Africa), The Tianjin International Jazz Festival (China) The Riverboat Jazz Festival (Denmark), a nd L´Onde Theatre (France). He performed the world premiere of ‘Xamisa‘, a compositional work he was commissioned to write by Festival d’Automne à Paris, at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, Paris, France in September 2013.
Shepherd, who practices and writes music most days, says “The Standard Bank Young Artist Award is a great honour, and a testament to the hard work that goes into being a solo artist. This will allow me to continue with my mission, and I greatly appreciate the accolade.”
For more on his work, see: www.kyleshepherd.co.za
Nicola Elliott – Dance
Dance – Nicola Elliott
The National Arts Festival’s 2014 Standard Bank Young Artist for Dance, 30 year old Nicola Elliott, is inspired by aesthetics, and by the bizarre experiences that come with being human and living in South African society.
As a choreographer-director, performer, dance lecturer and facilitator, Elliott is known for her intellectual rigour, wit and irony; and her aesthetic favours bold juxtaposition, detailed performance crafting and starkness. She admits that she is very ambitious in making her visions manifest.
Elliott works in the fields of dance, theatre, dance-theatre, physical theatre and integrated dance and has briefly explored dance film. She completed her Master’s degree in Drama at Rhodes University, specialising in Choreography, before returning to her home-town of Cape Town, where she continues to work on a project basis. She has received several commissions from notable entities such as The First Physical Theatre Company (four during the years 2010 and 2011), the Dance Umbrella (2011), The Emerging Theatre Director’s Bursary (2012) and a funding grant from the National Arts Council of South Africa (2012-2013).
Elliott has explored the processes of collaboration (most successfully with Brink Scholtz and Sonja Smit for Spier Contemporary, 2010), co-production (notably with Underground Dance Theatre) and choreographing for a text-based play (notably with Brink Scholtz and Jared Kruger). Her work has received several accolades: In 2006, she received the Jonathan Marks Prize for Choreography from Rhodes; in 2010, Spyt, which featured her choreography, won an Anglo-Gold Ashanti Fyngoud prize for Best Production at Aardklop; Loss and Having (which she co-produced and co-choreographed) won a 2011 Standard Bank Ovation Award for Excellence; she was nominated for a KykNet Fiesta award for Proximity Loss and Having (2011); Keepsake Minus 3 (which she co-produced with Underground Dance Theatre and which featured her work Keeps ake) won a 2012 Standard Bank Ovation Award for Excellence and a KykNet Fiesta Award (2013); and she was nominated for a Naledi Award for Best Original Choreography for her work on the play In the Wings (2012).
“I was very exposed to the arts while growing up. My family went to probably about 10 National Arts Festivals and we saw a lot of everything. ‘Andrew Buckland’ and ‘Nicholas Ellenbogen’ were household names. I was infatuated with performance, especially dance and physical theatre. I always thought that physical performers were doing something very, very important and brilliant!” she remembers.
“I went to a Waldorf school, which integrates creative arts into the curriculum. My sisters and I were encouraged to take lots of extra mural lessons in music and sport. I branched quite seriously into belly-dancing at one point, but I don’t have a traditional dance training background. I was more interested in movement and the Eurythmy taught at Waldorf instilled in me a sense of movement dynamics and qualities,” she says.
Rhodes Drama exposed her to what was possible, in a meaning-making sense, with movement, and she began to consume the conceptual ideas that were playing out in choreography internationally. Inspired by the work of choreographers Ana Teresa de Keersmaeker, La Ribot, and Jonathan Burrows; she also pays homage to her First Physical Theatre Company lineage, and considers music very much a part of her creative process. Considering how performance is constructed and troubled by dance language, and inspired by the interplay between the real and the representational, Elliott hunts beauty – although admits that her spectrum of what is beautiful is not traditional.
She approaches meaning-making via performer ‘presence’ and choreographic crafting, and her work is often underpinned by existential questions. For example, she has, in the past, focussed on particular human experiences, such as the experience of irrevocable change, alienation, or, more formally, of space and rhythm. In these instances there is a core to be accessed, but not a message to be delivered. Perhaps as a result, her work is less as a product for consumption and more of an experience that aims to create (subtle) shifts in one’s state of being.
“I believe that when artists listen carefully to their intuitive sense of themselves and the world around them; and if they work in an intelligent, rigorous way that keeps intuition close by; then what they produce has a good chance of resonating with an audience and reflecting broader ideas than (just) the personal, narcissistic, naval-gazing self.” she says, adding that “Making what I think is beautiful and important remains the central aim.”
“The Standard Bank Young Artist Award legitimises risky theatre-making, in the best sense. It has created the space in the industry for artists to make bold choices and I have capitalised on that liberty. I am honoured that my work is being taken seriously and being considered to be important and interesting by people who are constructing the industry. It is also very moving to know that work that I consider to be very personal is being given this spotlight.” she says.
Apart from choreography, Elliott has tutored and lectured at Rhodes University Drama
Department, and currently works part-time at the University of Cape Town School of Dance and the South African College of Music. She facilitates Integrated Dance workshops at schools with The Chaeli Campaign and with Remix Dance Company / ASSITEJ. After a break due to injury, she has begun performing again.
For more information on her work, please click
Hasan and Husain Essop – Visual Art
Visual Art – Hissain & Hassan Essop
Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Visual Art sees double in 2014.
Born and raised in Cape Town, the twins have been collaborating since their graduation from the Michaelis School of Fine Art in 2007. They both completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Postgraduate Diploma in Art at Michaelis, and subsequently Postgraduate Certificates in Education, at the University of Cape Town.
The twins graduated with individual bodies of work, but when they were approached by the Goodman Gallery in 2007, they proposed the idea of collaborating and making art together – the first time they ever worked together.
“Growing up, Husain and I were close but also apart,” explains Hasan. “We went to school together, and lived in the same house but we had different friends, likes and interests, and developed different identities and skills which we then brought together when working together.” Husain specialised in Photography and makes all the important technical decisions when setting up a shoot. Hasan specialised in Printmaking and therefore has a lot more freedom in the post-production and printing of the work. They both contribute to the subject matter and editing of the photographs, always discussing new ideas and locations to shoot. They speak very visually to each other and many ideas are born from their conversations; using popular culture, the media and Hollywood as inspiration. They are interested in subject s that interest the youth and forming the next generation.
“There are many things that drive, motivate and inspire me. My religion and spiritual belief – in my opinion – is the most important, as this guides my life, creative process and subject matter. I love art and everything that comes with it. At times it is extremely controversial and challenges my beliefs, but I am motivated to find a balance between religion and art. My community and culture, traditions and religion are subjects that I feel that have not been explored and this provides an opportunity to portray ideas to people that have not encountered them before.” says Hasan.
“Our series of work highlights a multi-cultural clash between religion and popular cultures,” say the Essops. “We explore the dominating influence of Western theatrics and those narratives that are constructed to depict a certain reality. Inspired by Hollywood’s visual language and tactics, we create our own narratives. Each photograph reflects us in a battle of moral, religious and cultural conflicts. Two dominant personalities appear, East and West with all their stereotypes. Environments are chosen as stages on which to perform and define our behaviours.”
Over the past few years the brothers have been establishing themselves in various parts of the world. During 2009 they completed a residency in Cuba (coinciding with the inclusion of their work on Integration and Resistance in the Global Age at the Havana Biennale) and facilitated a workshop on invitation from the University of Hamburg, Germany. They were selected for the Dakar Biennale in 2010, and credit the recognition they received from taking part in the Spier Contemporary exhibition (2007 and 2010) as big boosts for their career. Their work has appeared in several group shows, including the ABSA L’Atelier in Johannesburg, Power Play at Goodman Gallery Cape, Peekaboo Current South Africa at The Helsinki Museum in Finland, and Figures & Fictions: Contemporary South African Photograp hy at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The brothers took part in a residency at the Thami Mneyele Foundation in Amsterdam in 2011, holding their first solo exhibition in the Middle East at the Isabelle van den Eynde Gallery, in Dubai, titled Indelible Marks, in the same year.
The Essops’ work has been included in various private and public collections, including the Spier Collection, the Durban Art Gallery and the South African National Gallery. The Goodman Gallery has hosted two solo exhibitions of their work – Halaal Art (2010, Johannesburg) and Remembrance (2012, Cape Town).
“Becoming an artist has been a dream come true, but at the same time extremely difficult. To have a twin brother who shares your experiences and qualifications, and that is driven, is in my opinion the leading factor in our success.” says Hasan.
There have been many proud moments in their career, including a visit from Sir Elton John to their parents’ home in Rylands to buy some of their work; and being selected by Puma to create a design for the national soccer team jersey, which Bafana Bafana have been wearing since 2011; but the twins remain, foremost, committed to their families and community.
Both working full time as educators in boys’ schools in Cape Town, they focus a lot of energy on developing and maintaining their skills. “I believe that in order to share knowledge you need to have it, and therefore teaching has made me a better person and artist” explains Hasan. “I love being kept busy and my mind busy as it keeps me sharp and ready to embrace new challenges and obstacles,” he says.
They look forward to their first trip to the National Arts Festival, and compiling their first print catalogue, as offshoots of winning the Standard Bank Young Artist Award. Motivated by the influence of significant teachers in their own lives, they hope to inspire others, especially the youth through education, and thus leave a positive legacy in South African Art.
For more on their work, please click
PHOTO CREDIT: Timmy Henny
