Everard Read galleries are proud to announce that Blessing Ngobeni has been awarded the Standard Bank Young Artist Award 2020 for Visual Arts. We would like to congratulate Ngobeni on his well-deserved and exciting win and look forward to supporting him on his SBYA journey over the next year.

“Looking at my background and how I managed to break into the industry, it was because I was encouraged by those who don’t see education as a barrier,” says Ngobeni. “I won awards because of that and I decided I needed to offer the same kind of structures to other young artists like me. I was motivated by my own life rather than being institutionalised, which is to say that if you don’t have a certain degree or qualification, you won’t make it. I’m an example. I can make it into the system.” - Blessing Ngobeni