Doreen Southwood Wins Sasol Art Prize
Doreen Southwood, the young Cape Town-based artist who came to prominence with the piece Freedom, Hope, Strength in 2000, has won the Sasol Prize for best visual artwork at the 2003 Klein Karoo National Arts festival, in Oudtshoorn. She received the award in recognition of the work she presented on her untitled solo show, sponsored by Sasol. The show featured two new pieces, one a charming sculpture of a young woman in a bathing suit perilously perched at the end of a long diving platform. Also included were older pieces already seen on her show 'Nothing Really Matters', at the Bell-Roberts gallery in 2002.
The much-esteemed festival art prize, the Kanna Visual Arts prize, went to artist Thijs Nel. Initially a journalist and later a successful playwright and author, Nel studied art at the University of the Witwatersrand. He previously stayed at the Cit� International des Arts in Paris for two years, and has held many exhibitions throughout the country. He was awarded the Kanna for an art project that involved women from the community of Oudtshoorn, where he is resident.
