Six of the brightest young creative talents living and working in South Africa today have been announced as the 2023 Standard Bank Young Artists. These are the artists who will get hearts and minds racing with their ideas and performances at the 2024 National Arts Festival programme (20-30 June), in the 50th year of the Festival.
2023 Standard Bank Young Artist for Dance – Lorin Sookool
Lorin Sookool, is a 30-year-old contemporary dance artist with an interdisciplinary practice encompassing performance, sound, photography, film and costuming. This year, she performed a solo offering for the Liverpool Biennial: Woza Wenties and is fast receiving international recognition.
Follow Lorin on Instagram
2023 Standard Bank Young Artist for Performance Art – Kgomotso ‘MoMo’ Matsunyane
Kgomotso ‘MoMo’ Matsunyane is a 35-year-old actor, playwright and director with a visionary outlook and ability to create opportunities for herself. She was head writer and performer in this year’s big Naledi Award winner Hlakanyana: The Musical where she was also named best supporting actress.
Follow MoMo Matsunyane on Instagram
2023 Standard Bank Young Artist for Music – Zoë Modiga
Thirty-year-old Zoe Modiga is a singer, songwriter and performer with a background in classical and jazz training who is equally comfortable in House, Indie and Pop. She has already generated a long list of achievements, from multiple selections for the Standard Bank National Youth Jazz Band to winning the SAMRO Overseas Scholarship Competition, and reaching the Top 8 of The Voice SA.
Follow Zoe on Instagram
2023 Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz – Darren English
Multi-instrumentalist Darren English (32) recently won his second Global Peace Song Award (GPSA) in Los Angeles for his song Requiem in Peace. His star has risen in South Africa, Europe and the US, where he has spent an extended period studying, performing and recording with artists that reflect a wide range of music styles and he is no stranger to the Festival’s jazz stages.
Follow Darren on Instagram
2023 Standard Bank Young Artist for Performance Art – Angel Ho
Angel Ho (29) is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice extends across musical production and performance, DJ work, performance art, costuming, artistic direction and film. Being a feminine gender non-conforming queer African body, Ho combines performance, drag and the digital space to blur and deconstruct contemporary culture.
Follow Angel Ho on Instagram
2023 Standard Bank Young Artist for Visual Art – Stephané Conradie
While primarily trained as a printmaker, Stephané Conradie (32) is known for her bricolage assemblages. Her work sits in the permanent collections such as the Leridon Collection, France; Wits Art Museum Collection; UNISA Art Gallery; Spier Collection, South Africa and GAUTREAUX Collection, Cansas P.O.C Galila Barzilaï-Hollander, Belgium.
Follow Stephané on Instagram
Now in its 39th year, a Standard Bank Young Artist award is one of the country’s leading arts honours conferred by the National Arts Festival and Standard Bank. These new awardees join a litany of culture-defining creatives that include acclaimed pianist and composer Nduduzo Makhathini, the first South African artist to be signed to iconic jazz label, Blue Note Records; the late ceramicist Bonnie Ntshalintshali whose imaginative works in porcelain created a defining brand for Ardmore Ceramics; playwright and artist Brett Bailey who was subsequently awarded the prestigious Chevalier des Arts des Letters by the French Government and the internationally acclaimed artist William Kentridge who continues to deliver extraordinary work.
Be sure to put these exciting artists on your radar in the lead up to NAF and, with just six months to go, start making your accommodation bookings now!