Celebrating creativity and innovation, the Standard Bank Young Artist Award winners represent the vanguard of artistic excellence in South Africa. Following in the footsteps of the trailblazer who came before them. These 6 exceptional individuals redefine boundaries in their respective fields, leaving an indelible mark on the cultural landscape. Embodying the spirit of artistic evolution, they inspire and challenge audiences with their profound insights and groundbreaking contributions. Join us in honoring their extraordinary achievements and promising futures in the world of art.
Siyasanga
‘Siya’ Charles
JAZZ
Siya Charles is a South African trombonist, composer, and bandleader whose artistry is redefining the possibilities of contemporary jazz. A magna cum laude graduate of the world-renowned Juilliard School in New York City, Charles has already carved out an international presence, performing on prestigious stages and collaborating with musical giants including the late Hugh Masekela and several Grammy Award-winning artists.
Drawing from her rich cultural heritage, Charles brings a deeply personal and inventive approach to music-making. At the heart of her creative output is the Siya Charles Sextet, a bold ensemble through which she explores the intersection of South African rhythms, storytelling, and modern jazz language. Her compositions are layered with emotional nuance, technical brilliance, and an unmistakable spirit of innovation, reflecting both her classical training and deep connection to African musical traditions.
Beyond performance, Charles is also a passionate advocate for the transformative power of music in education and community. She frequently leads workshops and masterclasses, inspiring the next generation of young musicians with her talent, discipline, and unique artistic voice.
Whether on stage, in the studio, or in the classroom, Siya Charles stands out as a fearless artist—a trailblazer committed to pushing creative boundaries while honoring the musical legacy that shaped her. As she continues to evolve her sound and expand her global footprint, her work resonates as a compelling chapter in the ongoing story of South African jazz.
Asanda Ruda
DANCE
Ruda is a visionary South African choreographer and performer whose work pulses with the rhythms of memory, resistance, and reclamation. From the community halls of Soweto, where her journey in dance first took root, to some of the most esteemed stages across the globe, Ruda has developed a choreographic language that is both deeply personal and powerfully political. Her movement vocabulary is steeped in history—drawing from ancestral memory, Black feminist thought, and embodied forms of emancipation.
A former member of the internationally renowned Pina Bausch Foundation, Ruda toured extensively across Europe, where her performances were marked by their emotional intensity and technical precision. It was during these formative years that she refined her interdisciplinary approach, blending contemporary dance with ritual, storytelling, and socio-political commentary.
Her critically acclaimed solo work, Kemet (Black Lands), marked a major milestone in her career. Developed during a residency at HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts, as part of a biennial Pan-African cultural initiative, Kemet explores themes of Black identity, land, and spiritual reclamation. The piece captivated audiences with its raw physicality and haunting poetics, establishing Ruda as one of the most compelling new voices in dance.
Currently, Ruda is furthering her research and creative practice in Paris as part of the Centre national de la danse x Cité internationale des arts residency. Her time in France marks yet another step in her ever-expanding artistic journey, as she continues to forge connections between the local and the global, the past and the future.
As she carves out space for new narratives within the world of contemporary dance, Ruda remains rooted in her community origins—guided by the belief that movement is not just expression, but transformation.
Nyakallo
Maleke
VISUAL ART
Maleke is a South African visual artist whose intricate drawings serve as meditative explorations of migration, memory, and identity. Each work becomes a journey in itself—an evolving map of vulnerability, spatial awareness, and the complex geographies of the self. Her practice investigates the liminal spaces we occupy and the traces we leave behind, using drawing not just as a medium but as a metaphor for movement, displacement, and emotional terrain.
A graduate of édhéa – École de design et haute école d’art du Valais in Switzerland, where she earned her Master’s degree, Maleke’s formal training deepened her conceptual approach while affirming her instinctive mark-making process. Her time in Europe also led to numerous exhibitions across the continent, where her work has been praised for its subtle intensity and ability to convey profound narratives through line, absence, and repetition.
Maleke’s drawings often blur the boundaries between cartography and storytelling, archival impulse and poetic abstraction. In her hands, the act of drawing becomes a means of recovery—of histories lost, lands traversed, and selves reshaped. Her current body of work continues to challenge the conventions of the medium, expanding the conversation around what drawing can be and what it can hold.
Through her practice, Maleke invites viewers into a quiet yet powerful contemplation of place, presence, and belonging—charting emotional and physical landscapes that resonate across cultures and borders.
Modise
Segothe
POETRY
Sekgothe is not merely a poet—he is a shapeshifter of sound, rhythm, and form, whose work transcends the confines of genre to occupy a space where spoken word, theatre, and performance art converge. With a voice that is both intimate and incendiary, Sekgothe crafts experiences rather than recitations, using language as a living, breathing force that moves through body and breath.
From Washington DC to Gothenburg, Brussels to Johannesburg, his words have reverberated across global stages, earning him a reputation as one of the most compelling voices in contemporary performance poetry. His artistry dismantles expectation—fusing narrative, sound design, movement, and improvisation into richly textured works that defy easy categorization.
Sekgothe’s performances are often described as ritualistic, where the act of speaking becomes a transformative encounter. His themes range from personal and political memory to cultural mythology, mental health, and the complexities of Black identity in a fractured world. With every appearance, he challenges audiences not just to listen, but to feel—deeply, viscerally, and without pretense.
Whether in an intimate studio setting or on an international festival stage, Sekgothe continues to expand the possibilities of the poetic form. He is part of a new generation of artists unafraid to bend, break, and remake tradition—pushing spoken word into bold, uncharted territories.
Muneyi
MUSIC
Muneyi, born in the heart of Limpopo, is a singer-songwriter and storyteller whose music pulses with memory, myth, and meaning. Rooted in the rhythms of his Tshivenda heritage, Muneyi weaves ancestral wisdom with contemporary reflection, creating a sound that is both timeless and urgently present. His work is an act of cultural preservation and personal revelation—an offering that speaks to the soul while honoring the soil from which it grows.
Inspired deeply by his makhulu (grandmother), Muneyi’s lyrics explore the complexities of love, loss, healing, and identity. Through her stories and songs, he inherited not only language, but a way of seeing the world—one that is gentle, poetic, and profoundly spiritual. These influences echo throughout his music, which often feels like a conversation across generations, where the past and present meet in quiet, powerful harmony.
Singing predominantly in Tshivenda, Muneyi’s work transcends linguistic boundaries, inviting audiences into an emotional landscape that needs no translation. His voice—tender yet resolute—carries the weight of memory and the hope of renewal. Whether performing on intimate stages or large platforms, he captivates listeners with an authenticity that is rare and deeply moving.
As part of a new wave of South African artists reclaiming indigenous narratives through sound, Muneyi continues to carve a space that is unapologetically rooted and resonantly global. His music is not just to be heard—it’s to be felt, remembered, and carried forward.
Calvin Ratladi
THEATRE
Calvin Ratladi is a trailblazing South African artist whose interdisciplinary vision defies convention and redefines the boundaries of performance. Working fluidly across theatre, film, visual art, and installation, Ratladi brings an unapologetically expansive approach to storytelling—one that is immersive, experimental, and deeply rooted in socio-political inquiry.
A SAFTA-winning creative force, Ratladi’s work has garnered critical acclaim both locally and internationally. He is a recipient of multiple Ovation Awards at the National Arts Festival, where his bold, genre-bending productions have challenged traditional forms and created space for new modes of engagement. His theatre is not just something to watch—it is something to experience, often collapsing the distance between audience and performer, stage and world.
Internationally, Ratladi has taken South African narratives to the global stage, with invitations to present his work at festivals in Germany and Luxembourg. These platforms have affirmed his voice as a vital part of the contemporary performance conversation—one that bridges continents while remaining uncompromisingly rooted in African context and critique.
Ratladi’s practice is marked by a fearless embrace of hybridity. Whether directing a live performance, creating immersive installations, or developing cross-cultural collaborations, he consistently pushes the language of theatre into bold, uncharted dimensions. At the core of his work is a commitment to transformation—of space, form, and perception.
With each new project, Calvin Ratladi continues to carve a singular path in the arts, one that challenges, provokes, and reimagines what performance can be in the 21st century.
