FESTIVAL ARTISTS: Guided tour

Xhanti Zwelendaba and Benjamin Stanwix have a collaborative artistic practice that explores a shared interest in land, landscape and history in South Africa. Creating work around their own experiences with, and understanding of, the legacies of colonialism and apartheid, their practice often alludes to conflicting representation of the past as a means of making sense of our individual and collective present reality. Their practice takes on a multidisciplinary approach that includes working through installation, sculpture, tapestry, print and video. The artists met while completing their degrees at the University of Cape Town’s Michaelis School of Fine Art in 2017. In 2025, their monumentally scaled tapestry Thaba Nchu (2025) earned the duo the Investec Emerging Artist Award.

uXhanti Zwelendaba noBenjamin Stanwix banomsebenzi wobugcisa abawenzayo ngokubambisana, uphonononga umdla abawabelanayo kumhlaba, kwimimandla kunye nembali yaseMzantsi Afrika. Benza umsebenzi osekwe kumava abo kunye nokuqonda kwabo malunga nelifa lobukoloniyali nobandlululo, kwaye umsebenzi wabo uhlala ubonisa ukungangqinelani kwendlela imbali eboniswe ngayo—njengenjongo yokuzama ukuqonda inyaniso esiphila kuyo ngoku, ngamnye nangokubambisana. Umsebenzi wabo uhlanganisa iindlela ezahlukeneyo zobugcisa kuquka ubumiselwane, ukhaphukhaphu, umnatha wengubo, ushicilelo nevidiyo.

Aba badwebi badibana ngexesha bafunda kwiDyunivesithi yaseKapa, kwiSikolo seMichaelis soBugcisa ngo-2017. Ngo-2025, umsebenzi wabo womnatha omkhulu Thaba Nchu (2025) bawuphumelela ngawo iMbasa kaInvestec yoMculi oSakhulayo.