Thanks to the Joan Emanuel Trust, the KwaZulu-Natal Society of Arts has for many years awarded generous prizes for an annual exhibition of art submitted by its members. As the numbers of submissions have increased over the past few years, KZNSA has decided to take this opportunity to develop the competition into a nationally recognised group show of exciting KZN work.

The Member Awards are adjudicated by an independent panel of judges and due to space constraints in the gallery, only selected works will be eligible for the prizes in 2020.

Submissions that are not selected for judging, but respond to the criteria, will be installed in the gallery as part of the final exhibition.

Schools are invited to submit the work of Grade 10-12 learners for selection. Selected works will be exhibited in a schools installation. This work is not eligible for prizes, but selected young artists may qualify for school colours.

CRITERIA:

Artists are members of the KwaZulu-Natal Society of Arts,

Medium: Work can be 2D or 3D and any medium, including digital, performance and sound. The media gallery is available for digital and film submissions.

Size: Dimensions of work cannot exceed 1.5 m.

Date of work: Works to be made in 2020 for the KZNSA Members’ exhibition, in reponse to the theme.

Rationale / artist statement: Artists to provide a written concept statement of their interpretation of the theme.

The KZNSA Exhibition sub-committee reserve the right to select work for the judges’ consideration for prizes, and to decline space for work that does not meet the criteria.

2020 THEME:

X

The antepenultimate letter of the English alphabet, X serves as an essential representation of variability and the unknown. Used to indicate a number or name that is not known or stated in maths or legal documents, the letter was appropriated by civil rights activist Malcolm X to symbolise the African family name he could never know.

X has been recognised as the non-binary symbol for gender in pronouns and titles, and adopted as a feminist symbol by many womxn. It is the mark we are forced make when voting, and which illiterate people were urged to use as a stand-in signature. It stands for affection in our social media, hidden treasure on a pirate map and the Roman numeral 10, as well as a mark for something incorrect and a whole lot more.

What can it inspire in art?

AUCTION OF MEMBERS’ WORK

Following on from the success of the 2019 Members’ art auction, we invite participating artists to donate work for auction.

This works as follows:

When you deliver your piece to the gallery you can indicate if it’s available for donation, whether it’s 100% donation or 50/50 split, and the reserve price.

If it is unsold at the end of the third week of the Members’ exhibition it will be on a silent auction in the gallery for the duration of the fourth / last week of the exhibition.

People wishing to acquire the work will fill in their bids on a piece of paper installed next to the work. The person with the highest bid will be notified that it is theirs.

IMPORTANT DATES

Exhibition: 6 – 29 March 2020

Opening: Thursday 5 March from 17h30

Delivery dates: Saturday 29 February 09h00 – 16h00, Sunday 1 March 10h00 – 14h00

Auction week: 24 – 29 March 2020