The Bag Factory Artists’ Studios is proud to welcome Yolanda Mazwana as the recipient of the Bag Factory Young Woman Studio Bursary, generously funded by the Bag Factory alumni artist Sam Nhlengethwa.

The Bag Factory Young Woman Studio Bursary offers an emerging/early career woman/womxn artist (under 35) a 12-month fully funded studio bursary at the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios. As the recipient of this studio bursary Mazwana will also have a studio crit session with Sam Nhlengethwa during the studio residency, have the opportunity to engage with Bag Factory artists, staff, international visiting artists, and visiting curators and have the opportunity to be included in Bag Factory exhibitions and creative programmes. The Bag Factory would like to thank Sam Nhlengethwa again for making this programme possible.

Yolanda Mazwana is a largely self-taught artist who was born in the Eastern Cape She is currently lives and works in Johannesburg, primarily focusing on painting as a medium. “I started my journey as an artist when I was 15 years old. I knew that art was something I was going to love and to be passionate about”, says Mazwana. Talking about her work, she says: “[My work] is centered around mental illness, phobias, relationships and storytelling. My style can be described as an amalgamation of abstract expressionism, neo expressionism, and symbolism. I paint textures and colors into emotions through my work some compositions are indescribable”. Mazwana has participated in numerous group shows, most recently in the RMB Talent Unlocked exhibition at the annual RMB Turbine Art Fair (Johannesburg, South Africa), and has had two solo exhibitions at Kalashnikovv Gallery (Johannesburg, South Africa) and Daville Baillie Gallery (Johannesburg, South Africa). The Bag Factory Young Woman Studio Bursary will run from 1 October 2019 until 30 September 2020.