UJ students win in CITY Festival
University of Johannesburg Fine Art student Phumulani Ntuli and Multimedia student Thapelo Keetile were announced as winners in the CIT:Y Festival on 24 August 2011..
Run by the City of Johannesburg’s Directorate of Arts, Culture and Heritage, the CIT:Y Festival (which stands for Creative Industries Youth Festival), showcases the work of creative arts students from colleges and universities in Johannesburg.
BTech Fine Art student Phumulani Ntuli won the first place R20 000 bursary in the Visual Arts category.. Phumulani says of his work: “This print deals with the notion of masculinity and male gender identity. It also represents violence in post-apartheid South Africa. In this work, I subvert violence by using the doily, which is associated with domestication and femininity. The doily takes away the ferocity of the cultural objects - the shield and the spear.”
Utshiriane (2011) by Phumulani Ntuli.
Multimedia student Thapelo Keetile is the joint winner in the Animation Category of the CIT:Y Festival for his Condom Awareness Public Service Announcement (PSA). Thapelo says: “I wanted to cover a very serious topic in a fun way that would appeal to the youth.” Thapelo won a bursary valued at R10 000.
Screen shots from Condom Awareness PSA by Thapelo Keetile.
An unprecedented 129 entries were received for this year’s CIT:Y Festival from students at 13 institutions. “We are over the moon with the record number of entries received this year, which demonstrates the abundance of young people in the city who are enthusiastic about pursuing a career in the visual, performing and craft arts industries,” says Alba Letts, Acting Director of Arts Culture and Heritage Services.
Judges at the 2011 Festival included Glenda Venn and Christopher Gough Palmer (graphic design and textile design), Peter McKenzie and Debbie Yazbek (photography), Nicky Blumenfeld and Joe Nina (music), Gladys Agulhas and PJ Sabbagha (dance), Gary Oberholzer and Stan Bodibe (broadcasting), Kerry Liss and Glenn Ewan (animation) and Antoinette Murdoch and KhweziGule (visual arts).
The University of Johannesburg has traditionally fared very well in the Festival - Graphic Design students Yashad Singh and Zelé Angelides won in 2008 and 2009 respectively.
The best work submitted to the CIT:Y Festival was exhibited at Museum Africa in Newtown as part of Johannesburg’s Arts Alive International Festival in August and September 2011.