Ukungalingani Kwezemfundo (Educational Inequality) – A Solo Exhibition By Nosiviwe Matikinca
Ukungalingani Kwezemfundo (Educational Inequality) – A Solo Exhibition By Nosiviwe Matikinca. Nosiviwe Matikinca (23), winner of the 2023 Sasol New Signatures Art Competition and recent graduate from Gqeberha, will hold her first solo exhibition, titled Ukungalingani Kwezemfundo (Educational Inequality), alongside the Sasol New Signatures 2024 exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum from Thursday, 5 September to Sunday, 3 November 2024.
Matikinca was born in Cape Town and grew up in Hermanus. She attended Cedar High School of the Arts and took extra art classes at the Peter Clarke Art Centre. After moving back to Hermanus, she continued her art training at the Enlighten Education Trust under Zimbabwean artist Ashleigh Temple-Camp. She studied Bachelor of Visual Arts Degree at Nelson Mandela University in Gqeberha.
Her award-winning work in 2023 highlighted the challenges faced by learners from underprivileged backgrounds in public schools, particularly focusing on the disparities in basic necessities like school shoes. Matikinca said, “For my solo exhibition, I have decided to continue the narrative I began in 2023 and highlight and educate the public about the challenges faced by learners who come from underprivileged backgrounds. My artworks portray the overcrowding of classes and the lack of school tables, leaving learners to share with others or use broken tables. The carvings on these tables commemorate the presence of learners who were distracted due to the overcrowding and noise from their classmates.”
In addition to her clay shoes, Matikinca is also adding prints that depict examples of the issues facing these learners. The techniques she uses are inspired by those from the anti-apartheid era protests. “Currently, learners raise their concerns about the lack of facilities and supplies, but their cries are unheard by the current administration,” she continued.
The bronze-cast stationery underscores the importance of having the required supplies at school. “It is upsetting when students who do not have supplies are made to feel inferior by teachers giving them deadlines to cover their books and purchase all the necessary stationery, or they will not mark their work. It is due to situations like this that I am driven to give these learners a voice by emphasising the immense importance of school supplies for both the educational and psychological well-being of the underprivileged youth,” Matikinca added.
