The Wits Young Artist Award (WYAA) is supported by the point of order and the Wits School of Arts as a platform for both acknowledging and giving exposure to new and provocative work by senior students of the Wits Fine Art Department. The award consists of three prizes: 1st Prize / R12 000, and two Merit Awards / R6 500 each.

WYAA 2020 curators Gabrielle Goliath & Reshma Chhiba invited applications from senior Wits Fine Art students under two open categories: Rudiment and Hope Sub-verse. Rather than discreet or overly prescriptive thematic clusters, these categories were presented as open frameworks - which is to say, as porous, contingent, entangled and open to challenge.

Given that the point of order project space is currently closed on account of the global Covid-19 pandemic, the exhibition of accepted works has gone online. Please see the featured links above for works featured in Rudiment and Hope Sub-verse, as well as the 2020 winners.

Winners:

Vick Bester | 1st Prize

Jade Palmer | Merit Award

Pebofatso Mokoena | Merit Award

Selection panel:

Ingrid Masondo (Curator, Iziko SANG, Cape Town)

Athi-Patra Ruga (Artist, Cape Town)

Adjudicators:

Danni Bowler (Culture Editor, New Frame, Johannesburg)

Alia Farid (Artist, Kuwait/Puerto Rico)