#YouthMatters Art Competition a hit
PAULSHOF – Ariadne Briel has been voted as the winner of the first-ever #YouthMatters Art Competition, which aimed to inspire young artists to follow their dreams.
After a total of 1 487 votes were cast, the Bont Huijs decor shop has its first-ever winner of the #YouthMatters Art Competition – 19-year-old Ariadne Briel.
The competition, organised by store owner Werner Bonthuys, was held for the first time this year and aimed to promote young artists.
It also aimed to encourage youngsters to enter a career in the creative field. Four aspiring artists from each of four participating schools submitted a work of art inspired by the theme of Youth Day, which was then displayed at Bont Huijs for the public to vote on its favourite.
The four schools invited to participate were Hoërskool Linden, Bryanston High School, Crawford College Sandton and Diepsloot Secondary School.
The overall winning artist received R5 000 in vouchers, and an equal donation was made to the Diepsloot school for art materials.
These could be used to encourage underprivileged talent from the informal settlement.
“I feel great,” explained Mashadi Mojela Koena, the art teacher from Diepsloot Secondary School who received the vouchers during a handover hosted on 15 June at Bont Huijs.
“I never expected this response.”
Her own learners who participated in the competition, Kgothatso Malatji (15) and Tlhokomelo Mnis (16) worked in pencil and were not afraid to tackle difficult topics with their pieces.
“They based their submissions on their surroundings – youth in the township are faced with issues like drugs, pregnancy and rape, so giving them a chance to share their stories was a great initiative.”
South African artist Rudi Trap, who helped judge the top finalist from each school during the course of the competition, was inspired by the bravery and emotion the youngsters showed during their involvement.
His favourite piece was also the winning one – a life-sized metal statue created by Adriadne Briel from Hoërskool Linden, which received 637 votes.
“My piece is simply titled Identity and I learned to weld in order to make it,” Briel told the Fourways Review.
“I wanted to portray the concept and depth of identity, and decided to sculpt instead of paint as [the medium] would allow me to show how identity goes deeper.”
The sculpture was created in three weeks and incorporates a number of smaller patterns and pieces which meld together to create the overall human figure.
Briel was able to motivate every choice she made in the piece and intentionally left it looking almost unfinished.
“We as young people have to form our own identity based on what we want to become.
“We receive broken pieces from adults and use these puzzle pieces [of information and history] to create our individual identity.
“I deliberately left out the arm because the youth are in the process of still building themselves.”
Bonthuys told the Fourways Review that he was very happy with how the competition had gone in 2019 and is planning to do the same thing next year.
Details: Check out the Bont Huijs Facebook page if you’d like to get involved in the #YouthMatters initiative.
