Sasol distances itself from winning New Signatures work
by Michael Smith
Sasol, sponsor of the New Signatures competition has, for the first time in 18 years of involvement with the awards, distanced itself from the winning work. The 2008 winner of the competition is Richardt Strydom, whose monochromatic photograph Familieportret 2 features a semi-nude white couple with a child posed in a shambolic suburban backyard.
It is unclear what aspect of the work Sasol objects to, the nudity or the implication of white poverty. All that is known is that corporate affairs manager Mike Blesheuvel was quoted in an article by Janet Smith for the Saturday Weekend Argus as saying [we] 'recognise that some of the Sasol staff as well as some members of the public may be challenged or even offended by the piece and we feel it is both responsible and appropriate that we distance Sasol from the artwork'.
In the same article, however, Sasol's Jacqui O'Sullivan stated that the incident did not '[draw] into question our continued support'.
Michael Smith acknowledges a reliance on Janet Smith's article 'Bottomless Boereseuntjie takes first prize', printed in the Saturday Weekend Argus on August 30, 2008, for factual information used in this story.
