September 3, 2018
Meet Mulatedzi Simon Moshapo one of the awesome Sasol New Signatures 2018 Merit Winner
Where does your passion for art come from? I am definitely influenced by the political instability happening across my mother continent, Africa where people are being forced to move to nearby countries and I have a particular sympathy with asylum seekers, such as the Zimbabwean diaspora in South Africa.
Briefly describe your artistic journey up until the point of entering Sasol New Signatures. I have entered many competitions since the end of the apartheid era but the arrival of democracy post 1994 has allowed me freedom of expression without limitations and or fear.
What motivated you to enter the Sasol New Signatures art competition? The prizes the competition offers and the fact that there are few barriers to entering Sasol New Signatures.
What excites you about the creative process? To express and communicate with the world without any physical barrier.
Tell us about your preferred medium and why? Solid hard wood, to carve around and through it to interact with my work with its opposite spaces.
Summarize your work in three independent words. Power. Fear. Rampage.
Did this competition teach you anything about yourself? Yes definitely! It taught me to stop regarding myself as inferior and motivated me to keep going with the often challenging work which is an integral part of the creative world.
Which local artists do you admire? Avhashoni Mainganye, Mishack Raphalalani and Noria Mabasa.
What is next for you as an artist? To develop young artists’ creative thinking in the form of teaching and encouraging them to express themselves artistically.
What impact would winning this competition have on you? It will motivate me to work harder than before in order to be considered amongst the best artists in the country and potentially the world.