The Legacy Panel consists of four previous MTN New Contemporaries curators namely: Dr Kathryn Smith, Dr Portia Malatjie, Nontobeko Ntombela and Khwezi Gule with Melissa Goba, as the panel convener. The Legacy Panel was not only responsible for identifying and proposing the curator in November 2021; but will also assist with the subsequent phase of the programme in 2022 by verifying the curator’s research and proposal of the selected artists and acting as adjudicators when selecting the winning artist for the Gala event in October.
Melissa Goba :: Panel Convener
Soweto born Melissa Goba is an artist, writer, curator and producer who has worked in various capacities in the visual arts industry. She holds a postgraduate Fine Arts Degree from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Goba has written for various publications including Art South Africa, Elle Magazine and Spana! (Sweden) and has also consulted on publications like Sam Nhlengethwa’s monograph; Percy Konqobe Exhibition catalogue as well as the 2010 FIFA Exhibition catalogue titled SPace: Currencies in Contemporary African Art.
Goba has curated and co-curated various projects including: Jive Soweto! (A Homage to Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse and Soweto – 2007), The MTN New Contemporaries (2008), Domestic (2009) and SPace: Currencies in Contemporary African Art . Goba was artist Marina Abramovic’s curatorial assistant during her visit South African project in 2005. Goba has also held the position of curator for the Constitutional Court Art Collection and has also mentored artists looking to forge a new path in the arts industry.
Goba has consulted for Murray & Roberts on the start of their art collection, which features works exclusively made by South African women artists, while also consulting for such artist awards and collections as the Standard Bank Young Artist, ABSA L’atelier, SASOL Wax Award, Johannesburg Art Gallery Collection, the Telkom Art Collection, and the Joburg Fringe.
Goba has also sat on various competitions panels including the Public Art Programme Commission initiated by the City of Johannesburg through the local department of Arts, Sports and Recreation Department as well as the National Arts Festival committee. She held the position of Chairperson of the Arts and Culture Trust (ACT).
As an artist, Goba uses abstraction to process significant events and dreams with a view to understanding and considering an alternative perspective to South African narratives.
To watch Melissa Goba talk at the launch event, click HERE
Dr Kathryn Smith
Dr Kathryn Smith 2003 MTN New Contemporaries Curator
Head of Department, Visual Arts; Theory of Art & Design course co-ordinator and director of the VIZ.Lab research group: Stellenbosch University. She is an interdisciplinary visual artist and curator with an extensive exhibitions and publications history. A graduate of visual art and applied science programmes at Wits University (BAFA, MAFA), the University of Dundee (MSc Forensic Art) and Liverpool John Moores University (PhD Forensic Art), she is also trained in forensic facial imaging and advocates for vital pracademic exchange between operational, institutional and research environments. She is a Visiting Research Fellow at Face Lab, LJMU and adjunct curator, A4 Arts Foundation.
Dr Portia Malatjie
Dr. Portia Malatjie 2012 MTN New Contemporaries Curator
Portia Malatjie (Ph.D) is a Senior Lecturer in Visual Cultures at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town. She is Adjunct Curator of Africa and African Diaspora at Tate Modern and holds a PhD in Visual Cultures from Goldsmiths University of London. She is a 2021 American Council of Learned Society’s African Humanities Fellow. She is co-curator (along with Nontobeko Ntombela) of When Rain Clouds Gather: Black South African Women Artists, 1940 – 2000 (2022 – 2023) at Norval Foundation, Cape Town. Her research looks at African conceptions of Blackness through Africa sonic and spiritual praxes.
Khwezi Gule
Khwezi Gule 2006 MTN New Contemporaries Curator
Khwezi Gule is a curator and writer based in Johannesburg. He was Chief Curator at the Soweto Museums which includes, the Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum and the Kliptown Open Air Museum. Prior to that Gule held the position of curator: contemporary collections at the Johannesburg Art Gallery. He is the current Chief Curator of the Johannesburg Art Gallery.
Nontobeko Ntombela
Nontobeko Ntombela 2010 MTN New Contemporaries Curator
Nontobeko Ntombela is a lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand, where she currently heads the Art History Department. Ntombela’s research area focuses largely on South African modern and contemporary art with a particular interest in early modern Black women artists. A large part of Ntombela’s career has been working as a curator, producing exhibitions across South Africa and abroad. She has worked as a curator at the Johannesburg Art Gallery (2010-2020), Durban University Art Gallery (2005-2010), BAT Centre (2001-2005), and Art for Humanity (2000-2001), where she produced numerous exhibitions. She has also served in different capacities on several boards and committees for organisations such as the Department of Art and Culture, VANSA Visual Arts Network of South Africa, National Arts Council, KZNSA KwaZulu Natal Society of Arts, Art for Human Rights Trust, Johannesburg Art Gallery, and UNISA Art Gallery.
