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The 2023 Cassirer Welz Award Winner

6 Apr 2023

Bag Factory Artists’ Studios in association with Strauss & Co Education and Fine Art Auctioneers, are proud to announce Bulumko Mbete as the winner of the 12^th Edition of the prestigious Cassirer Welz award at Strauss & Co.

About the Award

The award was founded in 2011 by the late Nobel Laureate, Nadine Gordimer in celebration of her husband Reinhold Cassirer’s love of the arts. It has grown into a prestigious visual art award known for locating and acknowledging excellence in emerging local artists. After the passing of Stephan Welz, the following year, the Reinhold Cassirer Award was renamed the Cassirer Welz Award as a fitting tribute to the two men who contributed so much to the South African art world. 

Through this long-term partnership with Strauss Education, the Cassirer Welz Award has helped the winners launch their careers and make a name for themselves within the South Africa art market. As the award passes its eleventh -year milestone, Strauss Education have not wavered in their commitment to supporting the award even during times of unprecedented uncertainty. Strauss & Co recognises the importance of continuing the legacy of this prestigious development award for emerging artists.

Since its inception the award has grown in scope, with the 2023 call for entries including proposals by artists based in the following countries, some of which also form part of the Triangle Network: 

Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The selection jury, comprised of Bag Factory director Maria Fidel Regueros, Zinhle Zwane and young curator and researcher Boitumelo Makousu, Strauss& Co, Executive Director Susie Goodman, and Senior Art Specialist Wilhelm van Rensburg, who unanimously agreed that Bulumko Mbete, is an exceptional multifaceted artist, whose interest in materiality; through the use of textile, beading, natural dyeing and weaving to communicate generational traditions and gestures of love, will benefit from the opportunity for substantial creative and professional growth.Through the long-standing support of Strauss & Co and funding from Business and Arts South Africa (BASA), as the winner of the 2023 Cassirer Welz Award, Bulumko Mbete receives an intensive 3-month studio-based residency at the Bag Factory from 11 April – 10 June 2023 and funds towards a stipend, materials and production costs. The residency will culminate in a solo exhibition of newly created work at the Bag Factory with a public opening in July 2023. 

Now in its twelfth year, the award has given emerging artists an opportunity to showcase their talents to a broader audience. “Since its inception this award has seen the winners launch their careers and really start making a name for themselves within the South Africa art market,” says Susie.

Previous winners include artists such as Blessing Ngobeni, Nompumelelo Ngoma, Tshepo Mosopa, Asanda Kupa, Thato Nhlapho, Richard “Specs” Ndimande,  Keneilwe Mokoena and Levy Pooe.

About the Winner

Bulumko Mbete, born in 1995, is a Joburg based artist and writer with multicultural heritage. Mbete completed her BFA at the Michaelis School of Fine Art. She undertakes research in different forms of craft/design making. These methodologies are predominantly performed by women in Southern Africa. Bulumko is interested in materiality; through using textile, beading, natural dyeing and weaving; she creates a framework to communicate generational traditions and gestures of love. Mbete’s interests expand into ways of engaging with the archive and using the archive for creative storytelling. In this pursuit, she uses archival matter such as photographs, textiles, and clothes. She explores the geographic connections and synchronicities within her family in relation to South African history, and its effect on migration, labour, farming and love.

About the Bag Factory Artists’ Studio

The Bag Factory is a non-profit contemporary visual art organisation in Newtown, Johannesburg. With a pioneering 30-year history of providing a supportive infrastructure for artists, the Bag Factory is unique in combining art making with cultural debate and art exhibitions, thereby creating a fertile international environment for experimentation, innovation, and cultural dialogue between creatives in South Africa and the rest of the world. We provide studio space to a cross-generational community of Johannesburg-based artists and host a prestigious international artist and curator residency programme. 

We present regular exhibitions in our gallery that showcase new work by emerging artists to the wider public, and we also support the professional development of artists and curators through workshops, mentorship, and the prestigious David Koloane and Cassirer Welz awards. All our programmes are accompanied by a public programme that encourages greater understanding of contemporary visual art and stimulates interaction between artists and the local community. We are affiliated with the international Triangle Network.