The New Vanguard proudly presents its fourth edition, continuing its mission to support emerging and early-career artists who are shaping the future of contemporary art. This independent programme champions a new generation of artists at the beginning of their professional journeys—artists who often encounter significant barriers within the art ecosystem. The New Vanguard provides them with the resources, guidance, and visibility needed to navigate this formative stage with confidence and purpose.Working in collaboration with the University of Johannesburg and student curator Shui Hoppenstein, Flesh and Facade explores the relationship between the body, identity, and material, bringing together a diverse group of young artists whose works reflect on vulnerability, memory, and cultural expression.Generational memory, our vulnerable bodies, and cultural identity meet in both spiritual and organic ways. Surreal wooden forms and sentinel-like rubber figures stand alongside visual narratives of past and present. Zainab Choonara, Snelihle Maphumulo, and Ivukuvuku engage with ceremony and materials through techniques personal to them, while Thomas Masingi, Rose Agwa-Ejon, and Lesego Nhlapo unpack their vulnerabilities and anxieties.

Leonardo Sitoe, Andries Moroaswe, and Nicola Roos investigate accumulated histories. Erin Grice, Naledi Lebeko, and Shui Hoppenstein find new ways to look at the body.