Fellowship Announcement
The 30 Shortlisted Graaff-Reinet/ Robert Sobukwe Town residency proposals for the 2026 Social Impact Arts Prize Fellowship all have the potential to transform the Karoo town into a profound living arts laboratory where geological records of “deep time” converge with contemporary social discourse. Across the broad categories of Visual Art, Public Art, Art x Craft, Art x Performance, Art x Writing, Art x Photography, and Art x Community-based practices, they position the town as a living laboratory. Deep geological time of the Karoo intersects with complex environmental and social histories, including human development, historical entanglements, and contemporary rural economic realities. Each proposal demonstrates a commitment to engaging place not as backdrop, but as an active condition shaping both process and outcome.
A central thread running through these works is an urgent response to climate change and the fragility of the natural environment. The Karoo is portrayed not as a barren wasteland but as a sentient landscape marked by water scarcity and ecological resilience. Projects such as a “Living Archive: Camdeboo! Ecological Memory in the Anthropocene” or “Hortus Inconclusus: The Garden of Exchange” move beyond observation towards active remediation, using sustainable drainage systems and pollination corridors to address biodiversity loss. The animal kingdom serves as both a subject and a collaborator; whether through the study of prehistoric insect evolution or the tactile processing of a single sheep’s wool, the artists frame plantlife and animals as co-authors of the Karoo’s biography.
Materiality is central to this creative process. The artists reject mass-produced media in favour of a “ground-up” approach, utilising local ochres, minerals, clays, and stones to build and tell stories. This focus on raw materials—seen in the hand-forged “Karoo Toolkit” or various rammed-earth pavilions—connects the act of making to the earth’s physical ancient crust. Even the Karoo wind is treated as a material force, captured through acoustic sculptures and “wind-scales” that translate invisible atmospheric shifts into tangible sound and storytelling in “The Winds of Desolation”.
The social impact of these residencies is rooted in a radical model of knowledge transfer. By bridging the gap between institutional museum archives and the lived experiences of diverse communities, the projects empower local residents to serve as the primary custodians of their heritage. Skills-building is practical and diverse: youth participants master millinery as a form of “cultural entrepreneurship,” while elders lead “walking-talking” tours to map the town’s collective subjective memory or in “Hokmeisie” where the ancient N/uu (San) tradition of celebrating the moment when a girl becomes a woman, becomes an education resource transforming shame into pride.
The artists’ legacies are designed to be both physical and systemic. From permanent public monuments and “counter-archives” to functional community gardens and digital sound maps of the Khoikhoi language, these projects ensure that creative labour remains in Graaff-Reinet/ Robert Sobukwe Town. Ultimately, these interventions reimagine the valley as a place of possible healing and narrative repair, weaving together an indigenous past and the ecological future to build a more inclusive and resilient communal identity.
SIAP
’26 Shortlisted Proposals
A. ART X CRAFT (3)
A001. Brim Institute by BIRCH
A002. Tinderbox by Oscar Henning
A003. Roving — A Land in Sheep’s Clothing by Sivan Zeffertt
B. ART X PERFORMANCE (3)
B001. The Broken String: Sounding the Camdeboo by Coila-Leah Enderstein,
Garth Erasmus, Denise Onen, Duduetsang Lamola.
B002. Cloud Dancers by Annegret Affolderbach, Luke Radloff, Bee Diamondhead,
Thutuka Sibisi.
B003. Ecca by Ben Albertyn & Keely Shinners
C. ART X PHOTOGRAPHY (3)
C001. Holding, Karoo by Jodi Windvogel.
C002. Inheriting Resistance by Vaughn Sadie, Glenisha Tarentaal, Tiffany Witbooi.
C003. Incotho: The Century Flower by Khanyisa Pinini
D. ART X WRITING (5)
D001. Hokmeisie by Nadine Cloete, Claudia Snyman, and Deidré Jantjies
D002. Walks With Time by Anthea Buys and Hedwig Barry
D003. The Winds of Desolation by Kathryn White, Jenna Mervis, Prof. Ian Meiklejohn.
D004. Lexicons of the Karoo by Conrad Kemp
D005. Common Ground by David Mann, Youlendree Appasamy.
E. ART X COMMUNITY (2)
E001 Sara’s Echo by Nomandla Vilakazi, Mphats Nkhoma, Azinani Gqoboka, Bonang Libuke
E002 Karoo Commons by Dean Hutton, Temoho Kgosipula, Cultural Worker, Rivaldo Nelson, Andrew Whispa.
F. VISUAL X ART (5)
F001. Woven Portrait by Neville Gabie, Joan Gabie.
F002. Impressions of the Camdeboo by Petra Thorsen & Carla Visser
F003. Earth Memory by Tessa Anderson & Carly Boccardi
F004. From the Ground Up by Tinyiko Makwakwa & Kholofelo Tema
F005 Graaff Reinet as Living (in) Archive by Wezile Harmans, Sindi Matanda
Lungisa Gobane, Lihle Menziwa
G. PUBLIC X ART (9)
G001. Portal to the Imagined Karoo by Chrisél Attewell, Sara Gouveia, Inka Kendzia
G002. Hortus Inconclusus: The Garden of Exchange by Elize Vossgätter & Barbara Wildenboer
G003. NAM (TONGUE) by Jeffrey Hartzenberg, Geralt Cloete, Toroga Denver, Lynn Fester
G004. Digging For Mud by Klara-Marié den Heijer, Dirko Coetsee,
G005. Touch, Surface… Repeat by Láura Viruly
G006. Divine Tsui-||Goab: By those who came before us by Nicola Chidyaonga & Kekeletso Ramodibe
G007. Living Archive: Camdeboo! Ecological Memory in the Anthropocene by Nkululeko Motloung, Mmabalane Serepo, Mphathi Motha, Arthur Dlamini
G008. INDODANA by Sylvester Kumwenda
G009. Feeling the Wind/he ta: ti e: !khwe sˀo ʃow:e by Tammy Baikie & James Wylie