GAUTENG, SOUTH AFRICA.- The FNB Vita Art Prize 2002, a major annual event on the visual art calendar, opens on July 13 at the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg where the overall winner will be announced. The guest speaker will be Mac Maharaj. This year there are seven nominees who will mount new works specially commissioned for the exhibition:



Alan Alborough has been nominated for his national touring exhibition as the Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner. He is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Stellenbosch.



Bronwen Findlay, Faiza Galdhari and Daina Mabunda have been nominated for their work in the ’Threads" exhibition in Johannesburg. The exhibition originated at the NSA Gallery in Durban under the title, "Painting, Printing and Stitching". All three will collaborate on a new work for the FNB Vita Art prize exhibition. Bronwen is extensively involved in informal community-based art programmes, art workshops and part-time lecturing. Faiza Galdhari is a freelance illustrator for Olive Organisational Development and Training in Durban and is a practicing fine artist. Daina Mabunda lives and works in the Limpopo province. In 1981, she established the Xihoko embroidery workshop with Jane Arthur. After meeting Bronwen Findlay in 1992, they have worked collaboratively on certain projects.



Abrie Fourie has been nominated for his solo exhibition, "Philippians 4.8", which exhibited in Cape Town at the MTN Sciencenter last year. He lectures in the Department of Fine Arts at the Pretoria Technikon.



Usha Seejarim currently lives and works in Johannesburg and is completing an MA in Fine Arts at Wits University. She is nominated for her award-winning work as the MTN New Contemporaries Award winner.



Jeremy Wafer has been nominated for his exhibition, "New Works", at the Goodman Gallery last year. He has recently re-located to Johannesburg and the Technikon Witwatersrand.



The artists each received a commissioning fee of R13 000, R5 000 of which has come from The Goodman Gallery. The winner of the FNB Vita Art Prize 2002 will receive R35 000.



The FNB Vita Art Prize is loosely based on the Turner Prize in London and is specifically about the more recent ’languages’ adopted in contemporary art making. The exhibition runs from July 13 to August 3 at The Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg.



The panel of judges for this year’s prize is Julia Charlton, Natasha Fuller, Clive Kellner, Frank Ledimo and Virginia Mackenna.