Discover the transformative 'Making Space' exhibition at AVA Gallery
Artist Debbie Field, from Plumstead, has her work exhibited at the Association for Visual Arts (AVA) Gallery, in Cape Town.
Image: Fouzia van der Fort
A Plumstead artist says having her creations exhibited at the Association for Visual Arts (AVA) Gallery, in Cape Town's central business district, is the pinnacle of her career.
The work of four emerging South African artists - developed over a year as part of the 2025 Nando's Creative Exchange - was unveiled on Friday, February 20.
The artists are Debbie Field, Fleur de Bondt, and Sello Letswalo, both from Johannesburg, and Mduduzi Twala from Soweto.
Their sculptures, paintings, print and mixed media, themed Making Space, reflecting on how artists navigate growth, change, and creative process within shifting spaces, will be at the gallery until the end of March.
Emerging South African artists, Mduduzi Twala, from Soweto, Debbie Field, from Plumstead, Fleur de Bondt, and Sello Letswalo, both from Johannesburg, have their work exhibited at the Association for Visual Arts (AVA) Gallery in Cape Town central business district.
Image: Fouzia van der Fort
Ms Field said: "It stands for so many wonderful things in the art world, in Cape Town, and it's always been quite a pinnacle for me. So I feel so touched to actually have my own work showing. It feels like a big deal".
She has had her artwork displayed at other galleries but stated that the AVA was the "people's gallery".
"It's bringing the community and art together," she said.
Artist Sello Letswalo, from Johannesburg, included his identity with the cow being their family totem, and the historic Muizenberg Beach huts in his artwork titled Cultural Cows, 2025.
Image: Fouzia van der Fort
The gallery is the oldest non-profit, membership-based contemporary art gallery in Cape Town.
The artists were selected by the chief curator of the Nando's and Spier Arts Trust collections.
Spier Arts Trust enterprise services manager Tammy Job said this year's theme, Making Space, explored how the artists occupy, question, and reshape physical and emotional territories through painting, sculpture, print, and mixed media.
Ms Job said the exhibition highlighted the value of the year-long mentorship, which gave artists the freedom to develop their own practices while working toward a body of work that resonated with the exhibition's theme.
"The Nando’s Creative Exchange is a significant initiative, supported by Nando's, which owns the largest contemporary Southern African art collection globally with over 32 000 pieces displayed in their restaurants worldwide."
"The programme not only offers patronage but also acts as a vital turning point in the careers of emerging artists," she said.
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