During interactions with the media in 2017 at an Atelier Awards function at Absa’s head office in Johannesburg, multidisciplinary artist Banele Khoza appeared shy. Soft-spoken to the point of fault, Khoza had reached the finals of the prestigious award. But throughout his life, he has not raised his voice, not even when his situation was precarious. When he was a student at Tshwane University of Technology, the Swazi-born artist had no relatives in SA and often went to sleep on an empty stomach. Not even his closest friends knew he sometimes missed classes because he could not afford the taxi fare to campus. Nowadays, as one of the most promising artists on the contemporary art scene, with prestigious awards under his belt, Khoza has learnt to ask for assistance. He needs help to assist art students who may face the same problems he had. Khoza has just launched nonprofit organisation BKhz Foundation, which will give grants to struggling art students at SA universities. To launch his...

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