2025 Tilga Art Prize
South Africa Edition
Abongile Sidzumo
3rd Prize Winner
Buqaqawuli Nobakada
1st Prize + Bag Factory Artists’ Studios Residency Winner
Brian Montshiwa
2nd Prize Winner
Keabetswe Seema
4th Prize Winner
Congratulations to the four winners of the 2025 Tilga Art Prize: South Africa Edition — Buqaqawuli Nobakada, Brian Montshiwa, Abongile Sidzumo, and Keabetswe Seema. Their outstanding vision and creative depth stood out from all the applications. As the first-place recipient, Buqaqawuli Nobakada will embark on a fully funded three-month residency at the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios in Johannesburg, South Africa. Discover more about each finalist’s story, background, and artistic work below.
2025 Tilga Art Prize Finalists
2025 Tilga Art Prize
2025 Tilga Art Prize Finalists
South Africa Edition
Buqaqawuli Nobakada
1st Prize + Bag Factory Artists’ Studios
Residency Winner
Brian Montshiwa
2nd Prize Winner
Keabetswe Seema
4th Prize Winner
Abongile Sidzumo
3rd Prize Winner
Congratulations to the four winners of the 2025 Tilga Art Prize: South Africa Edition — Buqaqawuli Nobakada, Brian Montshiwa, Abongile Sidzumo, and Keabetswe Seema. Their outstanding vision and creative depth stood out from all the applications. As the first-place recipient, Buqaqawuli Nobakada will embark on a fully funded three-month residency at the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios in Johannesburg, South Africa. Discover more about each finalist’s story, background, and artistic work below.
Buqaqawuli Nobakada — Johannesburg, South Africa
1st Prize and Bag Factory Artists’ Studios Residency Winner
Buqaqawuli Nobakada (b. 2000) is a contemporary mixed media artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa, raised between Philippi township and Cumakala village in the Eastern Cape. Her practice merges figuration, textile, and architectural sensibilities to create radiant, lace-based dreamscapes that honor the beauty, complexity, and self-fashioned power of Black women. With a foundation in Architecture and formative training in Fine art - Nobakada uses visual language as a tool for world-building—anchoring her work as a medium for manifestation, where feminine sovereignty is made visible and real.
At the heart of her practice is lace, a material she considers both personal and conceptual. Its presence is deliberate and symbolic, particularly as it whispers distinctly in the background of the lives of women. Through acrylic paint on hand-prepared lace paper, often adorned with clay or gold accents, Nobakada renders Black womanhood as intricate and expansive. In her hands, lace becomes both material and metaphor: a delicate yet resilient emblem of femininity, echoing the stories of unnamed women who came before her.
Her ongoing body of work invites viewers into a luminous Afrofuturist interior where Black hyperfemininity exists in its fullest expression, rooted in community, intimacy, and abundant self-adornment. These works are acts of aesthetic resistance and love: Nobakada reclaims and reimagines the relationship between Black women and luxury, positioning it not as excess, but as birthright.
Her work bridges traditional and modern expressions of femininity. By weaving together the visual languages of domestic luxury, feminist afrofuturism, and architecture, Nobakada conjures a world in which contemporary Black femininity is high art. Her work disrupts and expands societal narratives, offering a counter narrative to reality, especially for women from townships and rural areas. Curated with intention and deep care, her practice is not only an invitation to witness a beautiful future, but a mass manifestation for herself and anyone who sees any part of themselves reflected back in her work.
Nobakada is a recipient of the 2023 ANNA Audience choice award, presented by Latitudes Online, and the 2024 Lexus Best Booth, RMB Latitudes art fair with gallery: Under The Aegis.
Brian Montshiwa — Johannesburg, South Africa
2nd Prize Winner
Brian Montshiwa is a multidisciplinary artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He holds a BA in Fine Arts from the University of the Witwatersrand (2018–2021). His practice spans performance, installation, and visual arts, exploring themes rooted in identity, inheritance, and queer expression.
Montshiwa has presented solo exhibitions including A Different Kind of Inheritance and a Different Kind of Inhabitance at Circa (Everard Read Gallery) in Johannesburg and a residency presentation at Church Projects in Cape Town. His collaborative work includes Chommie, Digital Closet (Melkweg, Amsterdam, 2025) and Imagined Inevitabilities (Kunstverein Braunschweig, 2023).
He has participated in numerous group exhibitions such as Senses at both Michaelis Gallery and the Goethe-Institut, Reflections at Bag Factory Artists’ Studios, and art fairs including FNB Art Joburg and Turbine Art Fair. His performance works have been staged across South Africa in spaces like Constitutional Hill, Pop Art Centre, and Wits Art Museum.
Montshiwa is a recipient of several awards, including the 2024 Prince Claus Seed Award, the 2021 Blessing Ngobeni Art Prize, and the Anya Millman Scholarship. He has held residencies at the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios and Church Projects, and his work is included in the collections of JP Morgan Private Bank and Art Bank South Africa.
Abongile Sidzumo — Cape Town, South Africa
3rd Prize Winner
Abongile Sidzumo (b. 1996) is a visual artist based in Cape Town, South Africa. He holds a Fine Arts degree from the Michaelis School of Fine Art (2019). His work explores contemporary modes of identity and form, often expressed through ceramics, painting, and sculpture.
Sidzumo has been recognized with multiple awards, including the Blessing Ngobeni Art Prize (2020), the Gerald Sekoto Award in the Absa L’Atelier Awards (2021), and the Simon Gerson Prize (2019). His first solo exhibition, *Dancing in the Dust*, opened at Everard Read in Johannesburg in 2020. In 2023, he presented his second solo exhibition, *Amagoduka*, at Absa Gallery, which later traveled to Gqeberha, Bloemfontein, and Pretoria.
He has participated in numerous group exhibitions across South Africa, including *Land/Lines* (Bird Street Gallery & Atherstone Gallery), *Locating Identity* (16 on Lerotholi), and *GATHER II* (SMAC Gallery). His work has also been featured internationally at AKAA Art Fair in Paris and 1:54 New York.
Sidzumo was a 2023 artist-in-residence at KNKK and previously completed a residency at Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, awarded as part of the Gerald Sekoto Award. He continues to build a growing presence in South Africa’s contemporary art scene through his evolving multidisciplinary practice.
Keabetswe Seema — Johannesburg, South Africa
4th Prize Winner
Keabetswe Seema (b. 1999) is a multidisciplinary South African artist whose practice spans photography, sculpture, mixed media, painting, and printmaking. She graduated with distinction from the University of Pretoria in 2023, where she also served as a class representative and participated in community-based art initiatives.
Seema was awarded the 2024 Blessing Ngobeni Art Prize, which included a three-month residency, and was named a finalist for the Cassirer Welz Award, exhibiting with Strauss & Co. Her first solo exhibition, Let the Fire Lead You Home, was presented at Everard Read Cape Town in 2024. She has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, including those at Latitudes Centre for the Arts, Everard Read, and Ebony/Curated, and has shown work at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair and Turbine Art Fair.
Her work is held in the University of Pretoria Museum Collection, and she has taken part in mentorship programs such as TAF Unearthed, while contributing to community projects focused on art therapy and youth engagement.
Buqaqawuli Nobakada — Johannesburg, South Africa
1st Prize and Bag Factory Artists’ Studios Residency Winner
Buqaqawuli Nobakada (b. 2000) is a contemporary mixed media artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa, raised between Philippi township and Cumakala village in the Eastern Cape. Her practice merges figuration, textile, and architectural sensibilities to create radiant, lace-based dreamscapes that honor the beauty, complexity, and self-fashioned power of Black women. With a foundation in Architecture and formative training in Fine art - Nobakada uses visual language as a tool for world-building—anchoring her work as a medium for manifestation, where feminine sovereignty is made visible and real.
At the heart of her practice is lace, a material she considers both personal and conceptual. Its presence is deliberate and symbolic, particularly as it whispers distinctly in the background of the lives of women. Through acrylic paint on hand-prepared lace paper, often adorned with clay or gold accents, Nobakada renders Black womanhood as intricate and expansive. In her hands, lace becomes both material and metaphor: a delicate yet resilient emblem of femininity, echoing the stories of unnamed women who came before her.
Her ongoing body of work invites viewers into a luminous Afrofuturist interior where Black hyperfemininity exists in its fullest expression, rooted in community, intimacy, and abundant self-adornment. These works are acts of aesthetic resistance and love: Nobakada reclaims and reimagines the relationship between Black women and luxury, positioning it not as excess, but as birthright.
Her work bridges traditional and modern expressions of femininity. By weaving together the visual languages of domestic luxury, feminist afrofuturism, and architecture, Nobakada conjures a world in which contemporary Black femininity is high art. Her work disrupts and expands societal narratives, offering a counter narrative to reality, especially for women from townships and rural areas. Curated with intention and deep care, her practice is not only an invitation to witness a beautiful future, but a mass manifestation for herself and anyone who sees any part of themselves reflected back in her work.
Nobakada is a recipient of the 2023 ANNA Audience choice award, presented by Latitudes Online, and the 2024 Lexus Best Booth, RMB Latitudes art fair with gallery: Under The Aegis.
Brian Montshiwa — Johannesburg, South Africa
2nd Prize Winner
Brian Montshiwa is a multidisciplinary artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He holds a BA in Fine Arts from the University of the Witwatersrand (2018–2021). His practice spans performance, installation, and visual arts, exploring themes rooted in identity, inheritance, and queer expression.
Montshiwa has presented solo exhibitions including A Different Kind of Inheritance and a Different Kind of Inhabitance at Circa (Everard Read Gallery) in Johannesburg and a residency presentation at Church Projects in Cape Town. His collaborative work includes Chommie, Digital Closet (Melkweg, Amsterdam, 2025) and Imagined Inevitabilities (Kunstverein Braunschweig, 2023).
He has participated in numerous group exhibitions such as Senses at both Michaelis Gallery and the Goethe-Institut, Reflections at Bag Factory Artists’ Studios, and art fairs including FNB Art Joburg and Turbine Art Fair. His performance works have been staged across South Africa in spaces like Constitutional Hill, Pop Art Centre, and Wits Art Museum.
Montshiwa is a recipient of several awards, including the 2024 Prince Claus Seed Award, the 2021 Blessing Ngobeni Art Prize, and the Anya Millman Scholarship. He has held residencies at the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios and Church Projects, and his work is included in the collections of JP Morgan Private Bank and Art Bank South Africa.
Abongile Sidzumo —
Cape Town, South Africa
3rd Prize Winner
Abongile Sidzumo (b. 1996) is a visual artist based in Cape Town, South Africa. He holds a Fine Arts degree from the Michaelis School of Fine Art (2019). His work explores contemporary modes of identity and form, often expressed through ceramics, painting, and sculpture.
Sidzumo has been recognized with multiple awards, including the Blessing Ngobeni Art Prize (2020), the Gerald Sekoto Award in the Absa L’Atelier Awards (2021), and the Simon Gerson Prize (2019). His first solo exhibition, *Dancing in the Dust*, opened at Everard Read in Johannesburg in 2020. In 2023, he presented his second solo exhibition, *Amagoduka*, at Absa Gallery, which later traveled to Gqeberha, Bloemfontein, and Pretoria.
He has participated in numerous group exhibitions across South Africa, including *Land/Lines* (Bird Street Gallery & Atherstone Gallery), *Locating Identity* (16 on Lerotholi), and *GATHER II* (SMAC Gallery). His work has also been featured internationally at AKAA Art Fair in Paris and 1:54 New York.
Sidzumo was a 2023 artist-in-residence at KNKK and previously completed a residency at Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, awarded as part of the Gerald Sekoto Award. He continues to build a growing presence in South Africa’s contemporary art scene through his evolving multidisciplinary practice.
Keabetswe Seema — Johannesburg, South Africa
4th Prize Winner
Keabetswe Seema (b. 1999) is a multidisciplinary South African artist whose practice spans photography, sculpture, mixed media, painting, and printmaking. She graduated with distinction from the University of Pretoria in 2023, where she also served as a class representative and participated in community-based art initiatives.
Seema was awarded the 2024 Blessing Ngobeni Art Prize, which included a three-month residency, and was named a finalist for the Cassirer Welz Award, exhibiting with Strauss & Co. Her first solo exhibition, Let the Fire Lead You Home, was presented at Everard Read Cape Town in 2024. She has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, including those at Latitudes Centre for the Arts, Everard Read, and Ebony/Curated, and has shown work at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair and Turbine Art Fair.
Her work is held in the University of Pretoria Museum Collection, and she has taken part in mentorship programs such as TAF Unearthed, while contributing to community projects focused on art therapy and youth engagement.
Abongile Sidzumo
Cape Town, RSA
Visual Artist
Buqaqawuli Nobakada
Johannesburg, RSA
Visual Artist
Kuhmo Ramaila
Johannesburg, RSA
Visual Artist
Tshepo Sizwe Phokojoe
Johannesburg, RSA
Visual Artist
Brian Montshiwa
Johannesburg, RSA
Multidisciplinary Art
Cheriese Dilrajh
Durban, RSA
Multimedia Visual Artist
Mpho Jacobs
Pietermaritzburg, RSA
Multidisciplinary Art
Boemo Diale
Johannesburg, RSA
Visual Artist
Keabetswe Seema
Johannesburg, RSA
Multimedia Visual Artist
Princia Matungulu
Johannesburg, RSA
Visual Artist
Your 2025 Tilga Art Prize Semifinalists!
We’re proud to introduce the ten semifinalists for the 2025 Tilga Art Prize: South Africa Edition. Selected from an exceptional pool of submissions, these emerging artists span disciplines including photography, painting, sculpture, illustration, and multidisciplinary work. Each brings a distinct voice, a refined practice, and a commitment to storytelling rooted in personal and cultural experience.
Your 2025 Semifinalists!
Boemo Diale
Johannesburg, RSA
Visual Artist
Buqaqawuli Nobakada
Johannesburg, RSA
Visual Artist
Cheriese Dilrajh
Durban, RSA
Multimedia Visual Artist
Keabetswe Seema
Johannesburg, RSA
Multimedia Visual Artist
Kuhmo Ramaila
Johannesburg, RSA
Visual Artist
Mpho Jacobs
Pietermaritzburg, RSA
Multidisciplinary Art
Princia Matungulu
Johannesburg, RSA
Visual Artist
Tshepo Sizwe Phokojoe
Johannesburg, RSA
Visual Artist
Brian Montshiwa
Johannesburg, RSA
Multidisciplinary Art
Abongile Sidzumo
Cape Town, RSA
Visual Artist
We’re proud to introduce the ten semifinalists for the 2025 Tilga Art Prize: South Africa Edition. Selected from an exceptional pool of submissions, these emerging artists span disciplines including photography, painting, sculpture, illustration, and multidisciplinary work. Each brings a distinct voice, a refined practice, and a commitment to storytelling rooted in personal and cultural experience.
Meet Our Judges
Pule D. Taukobong
Art Collector
A renowned investor in the African tech startup space, Pule is a Founding Partner at CRE Venture Capital, and has invested in many successful startups across the continent, including Andela, Yoco and SweepSouth to name a few. He previously founded Africa Angels Network, the first angel investment group to focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to that, he held several investment roles at Investec in Johannesburg, Cape Town and New York.
Pule is a graduate of the Durban University of Technology and a Kauffman Fellow. The Kaufmann Fellowship is a highly sought-after two-year programme dedicated exclusively to the world of innovation investing. After several years of living in the USA, he has returned to South Africa with his family.
As well as being passionate about tech, Pule is an avid collector of art from across the continent. His family's collection consists of over 700 pieces of carefully curated unique African artworks.
2025 Residency Partner
Julie Taylor
Gallerist/Curator
Julie Taylor is founder and director of Guns & Rain, a Johannesburg-based gallery for contemporary African art, with a strong local and international programm of exhibitions and collaborations. Founded in 2014 as one of Africa’s first online galleries, Guns & Rain was established to address the under-representation of African art online and globally. Today, the gallery works with over twenty emerging artists from five African countries and is known both for its leaning towards social and political themes, and for identifying new talent.
Julie is an anthropologist, communications guru and art entrepreneur, interested in addressing the under-representation of African fine art in the global economy. Before moving into art, she was Google’s Head of Communications and Public Affairs for Sub-Saharan Africa. Born and raised in Zimbabwe, she holds degrees from Oxford and Cambridge in Social Anthropology and Development Studies.
Moni Aisida is the Executive Director at Guest Artists Space. In addition to a background in Fintech and Health, Moni has over 8 years of experience in the arts industry, including at SMO Contemporary, Art X Lagos, and Affinity Gallery. She is best known for her work with bringing to the fore, emerging art practices, and institutions.
She is an ardent believer in, and keen observer of, the individualities and intricacies of human qualities which translate into a genuine interest in human behaviors and storytelling. With a background in psychology she understand how people think and what makes them tick, and her years in the art industry means she is able to combine both experiences resulting in a willingness for discovery, immense positivity and a malleability that allows for thriving in any environment.
Moni is a graduate of Southern New Hampshire University with Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Psychology degree.
Natasha Becker
Curator of African Art,
The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco
Born and raised in South Africa, Becker has focused on presenting the work of African artists, African American artists, and artists of the African diaspora. Working in both Cape Town and New York City over the past decade, she has organized numerous exhibitions and international initiatives as an independent curator. Prior to joining the Fine Arts Museums, she served as curator-in-residence at Faction Art Projects in Harlem. Becker is also cofounder of two collaborative curatorial platforms: Assembly Room in New York City and the Underline Show in Johannesburg.
Prior to working at Faction Art Projects, Becker served as curatorial adviser at the Face Foundation and co-curator at the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice. She has a track record of promoting artists from Africa, the African diaspora, and the global south, as well as women artists, in addition to centering social justice within the contemporary art dialogue. Perilous Bodies and Radical Love, two group shows held at the Ford Foundation’s new gallery, wove together the perspectives of 42 international artists on issues of justice and liberation.
Becker holds a master’s degree in African history from the University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa, and completed her PhD coursework in art history at Binghamton University, New York. She began her tenure at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco on December 1, 2020.
Simphiwe Ndzube
Artist
Simphiwe Ndzube lives and works in Los Angeles, CA and Cape Town, South Africa. He received his BFA from the Michaelis School of Fine Arts in 2015. His practice consists of painting, collage, performance, sound, and sculptural forms that explore the nuances of freedom and agency. Inspired by history, remembering/retelling, language, and music, Ndzube creates worlds of characters and bursting landscapes that challenge the idea of the individual and the nation. In a world he terms The Mine Moon, Ndzube draws influence from his upbringing in a ‘post-apartheid’ South Africa which lingers with the weight of history, subjugation, and violence. However, with a sharp playfulness, Ndzube brings figures and landscapes to life, as they sit between the poles of mythology and realism. The artist does not insist on the aptness and rigidity of ‘historical truth’, but instead emphasizes the art of storytelling with figures brimming with energy, and encompassing the human realities that befall them.
He has exhibited at several renowned institutions across the globe including Denver Art Museum, Denver USA; NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale USA; Stevenson Gallery, Johannesburg; The 15th Lyon Biennale, Lyon France; Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles USA; Rubell Museum, Miami USA; CC Foundation, Shanghai, China; etc. (2018, solo). His work is collected by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Denver Art Museum; Musée d’art Contemporain de Lyon, France; Iziko South African National Gallery, South Africa; Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, South Africa; Denver Art Museum; Rubell Museum; and many others.
Moni Aisida
Executive Director at Guest Artists Space
Maria Fidel Regueros
Director, Bag Factory Artists’ Studios
As an Independent Curator, Lecturer, Researcher and Project Manager and a mother of two, Maria has been involved in numerous creative projects in South Africa and abroad.
Within South Africa’s creative industry in general and the visual arts sector in particular, Maria has occupied various positions within Municipal and Tertiary Institutions, as well as Non-profit Organisations. Within these entities her roles have focused on strategic development, content research, project and organisational development, curatorial exhibition projects, educational content and audience development strategies within small, medium to large scale projects.
Between 2011 – 2020, Maria founded and co-directed the arts organisation/project space ROOM Space & Projects NPC, in Johannesburg. ROOM focused on the presentation of works by young career South African and regional artists and professionalisation opportunities for Arts Administrators and Curators. Since late 2022, she has held the position of Director at the iconic visual arts institution Bag Factory Artists’ Studios, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Her Colombian/Bulgarian heritage combined with her residing in the Southern African region since the late 80s and in South Africa since 2000, have shaped her commitment and focus on South Africa and Global South issues. Her passion for the development of the creative industries, and visual arts in particular resonate in her professional involvements and practice.
Maria is an Alum of University of Witwatersrand, the International Curators Intensive (ICI) Network (USA) and De Appel’s Gallerist Programme (Netherlands).
Recently, Maria completed her MBA at Henley Business School (South Africa). She holds a BA Honors majoring in Heritage Studies (with a focus on Museums & Public Culture) and Socio Cultural Anthropology (University of Witwatersrand).
Competition Details
One reference letter from tutors, artists and/or art professionals
A portfolio of 6 to 8 digital images of most recent artworks
Ideal in jpg files or photos of 300 dpi or higher (max of 10MB) or videos (not to exceed 5 mins)
Include the title of each work with the medium and date. If not titled, please write “untitled”. This could be captioned under each artwork or included in an attached checklist
A conceptual proposal to create artwork addressing any of the following social issues in South Africa - poverty, youth unemployment or social inequality
The Award
Four artists will be selected as finalists
1st Prize winner - $5,000
2nd Prize winner - $3,000
3rd Prize winner - $2,000
4th Prize winner - $1,000
The 1st Prize winner also receives an all expense paid 3-month residency at Bag Factory Artists’ Studios in Johannesburg.
Additional ongoing benefits for all winners include:
Personal Mentorship
Professional development through zoom talks
Global publicity by all supporting partners
Membership of a growing supporting community of fellow Tilga Prize Finalists
Competition Details
One reference letter from tutors, artists and/or art professionals
A portfolio of 6 to 8 digital images of most recent artworks
Ideal in jpg files or photos of 300 dpi or higher (max of 10MB) or videos (not to exceed 5 mins)
Include the title of each work with the medium and date. If not titled, please write “untitled”. This could be captioned under each artwork or included in an attached checklist
A conceptual proposal to create artwork addressing any of the following social issues in South Africa - poverty, youth unemployment or social inequality
The Award
Four artists will be selected as finalists
1st Prize winner - $5,000
2nd Prize winner - $3,000
3rd Prize winner - $2,000
4th Prize winner - $1,000
The 1st Prize winner also receives an all expense paid 3-month residency at Bag Factory Artists’ Studios in Johannesburg.
Additional ongoing benefits for all winners include:
Personal Mentorship
Professional development through zoom talks
Global publicity by all supporting partners
Membership of a growing supporting community of fellow Tilga Prize Finalists
Meet Our Judges
Pule D. Taukobong
Art Collector
A renowned investor in the African tech startup space, Pule is a Founding Partner at CRE Venture Capital, and has invested in many successful startups across the continent, including Andela, Yoco and SweepSouth to name a few. He previously founded Africa Angels Network, the first angel investment group to focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to that, he held several investment roles at Investec in Johannesburg, Cape Town and New York.
Pule is a graduate of the Durban University of Technology and a Kauffman Fellow. The Kaufmann Fellowship is a highly sought-after two-year programme dedicated exclusively to the world of innovation investing. After several years of living in the USA, he has returned to South Africa with his family.
As well as being passionate about tech, Pule is an avid collector of art from across the continent. His family's collection consists of over 700 pieces of carefully curated unique African artworks
Julie Taylor
Gallerist/Curator
Julie Taylor is founder and director of Guns & Rain, a Johannesburg-based gallery for contemporary African art, with a strong local and international programm of exhibitions and collaborations. Founded in 2014 as one of Africa’s first online galleries, Guns & Rain was established to address the under-representation of African art online and globally. Today, the gallery works with over twenty emerging artists from five African countries and is known both for its leaning towards social and political themes, and for identifying new talent.
Julie is an anthropologist, communications guru and art entrepreneur, interested in addressing the under-representation of African fine art in the global economy. Before moving into art, she was Google’s Head of Communications and Public Affairs for Sub-Saharan Africa. Born and raised in Zimbabwe, she holds degrees from Oxford and Cambridge in Social Anthropology and Development Studies.
Moni Aisida
Executive Director at Guest Artists Space
Moni Aisida is the Executive Director at Guest Artists Space. In addition to a background in Fintech and Health, Moni has over 8 years of experience in the arts industry, including at SMO Contemporary, Art X Lagos, and Affinity Gallery. She is best known for her work with bringing to the fore, emerging art practices, and institutions.
She is an ardent believer in, and keen observer of, the individualities and intricacies of human qualities which translate into a genuine interest in human behaviors and storytelling. With a background in psychology she understand how people think and what makes them tick, and her years in the art industry means she is able to combine both experiences resulting in a willingness for discovery, immense positivity and a malleability that allows for thriving in any environment.
Moni is a graduate of Southern New Hampshire University with Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Psychology degree.
Natasha Becker
Curator of African Art,
The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco
Born and raised in South Africa, Becker has focused on presenting the work of African artists, African American artists, and artists of the African diaspora. Working in both Cape Town and New York City over the past decade, she has organized numerous exhibitions and international initiatives as an independent curator. Prior to joining the Fine Arts Museums, she served as curator-in-residence at Faction Art Projects in Harlem. Becker is also cofounder of two collaborative curatorial platforms: Assembly Room in New York City and the Underline Show in Johannesburg.
Prior to working at Faction Art Projects, Becker served as curatorial adviser at the Face Foundation and co-curator at the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice. She has a track record of promoting artists from Africa, the African diaspora, and the global south, as well as women artists, in addition to centering social justice within the contemporary art dialogue. Perilous Bodies and Radical Love, two group shows held at the Ford Foundation’s new gallery, wove together the perspectives of 42 international artists on issues of justice and liberation.
Becker holds a master’s degree in African history from the University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa, and completed her PhD coursework in art history at Binghamton University, New York. She began her tenure at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco on December 1, 2020.
Simphiwe Ndzube
Artist
Simphiwe Ndzube lives and works in Los Angeles, CA and Cape Town, South Africa. He received his BFA from the Michaelis School of Fine Arts in 2015. His practice consists of painting, collage, performance, sound, and sculptural forms that explore the nuances of freedom and agency. Inspired by history, remembering/retelling, language, and music, Ndzube creates worlds of characters and bursting landscapes that challenge the idea of the individual and the nation. In a world he terms The Mine Moon, Ndzube draws influence from his upbringing in a ‘post-apartheid’ South Africa which lingers with the weight of history, subjugation, and violence. However, with a sharp playfulness, Ndzube brings figures and landscapes to life, as they sit between the poles of mythology and realism. The artist does not insist on the aptness and rigidity of ‘historical truth’, but instead emphasizes the art of storytelling with figures brimming with energy, and encompassing the human realities that befall them.
He has exhibited at several renowned institutions across the globe including Denver Art Museum, Denver USA; NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale USA; Stevenson Gallery, Johannesburg; The 15th Lyon Biennale, Lyon France; Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles USA; Rubell Museum, Miami USA; CC Foundation, Shanghai, China; etc. (2018, solo). His work is collected by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Denver Art Museum; Musée d’art Contemporain de Lyon, France; Iziko South African National Gallery, South Africa; Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, South Africa; Denver Art Museum; Rubell Museum; and many others.
Maria Fidel Regueros
Director, Bag Factory Artists’ Studios
As an Independent Curator, Lecturer, Researcher and Project Manager and a mother of two, Maria has been involved in numerous creative projects in South Africa and abroad.
Within South Africa’s creative industry in general and the visual arts sector in particular, Maria has occupied various positions within Municipal and Tertiary Institutions, as well as Non-profit Organisations. Within these entities her roles have focused on strategic development, content research, project and organisational development, curatorial exhibition projects, educational content and audience development strategies within small, medium to large scale projects.
Between 2011 – 2020, Maria founded and co-directed the arts organisation/project space ROOM Space & Projects NPC, in Johannesburg. ROOM focused on the presentation of works by young career South African and regional artists and professionalisation opportunities for Arts Administrators and Curators. Since late 2022, she has held the position of Director at the iconic visual arts institution Bag Factory Artists’ Studios, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Her Colombian/Bulgarian heritage combined with her residing in the Southern African region since the late 80s and in South Africa since 2000, have shaped her commitment and focus on South Africa and Global South issues. Her passion for the development of the creative industries, and visual arts in particular resonate in her professional involvements and practice.
Maria is an Alum of University of Witwatersrand, the International Curators Intensive (ICI) Network (USA) and De Appel’s Gallerist Programme (Netherlands).
Recently, Maria completed her MBA at Henley Business School (South Africa). She holds a BA Honors majoring in Heritage Studies (with a focus on Museums & Public Culture) and Socio Cultural Anthropology (University of Witwatersrand).
2025 Residency Partner
Have a question or want to connect?
Whether you're an artist, partner, or supporter, we’d love to hear from you.
Reach out with inquiries about scholarships, the Tilga Art Prize, or general collaboration opportunities.