Creative research careers to be feted at grad

At graduation this week, UCT will confer two Creative Works Awards - for their influential, creative, and scholarly works - on Emeritus Professor of History of Art Michael Godby and artist Professor Gavin Younge.

Godby, of the Michaelis School of Fine Art, will receive the award for The Lie of the Land - Representations of the South African landscape, an exhibition he curated in 2010 and 2011.

The project included scholarly essays on literary, cultural, political and environmental aspects of the South African landscape. It was carefully designed to showcase and celebrate a vigorous tradition of South African art, not only engaging with the role of land through South African history, but also clarifying the changing stylistic strategies for representing land at different points in South Africa's history.

Speaking about the award, Godby said that it "signals the university's recognition that scholarly work with historical material can indeed be creative; and it will, hopefully, lend support to further curating projects I have in the pipeline".

Professor of sculpture at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, Younge will receive the award for his 2011 solo exhibition Cheval de Bataille, a project commissioned by the French Monuments Council and which was housed in the Forteresse de Salses, a fortress in France that has run a vigorous contemporary art programme for many years.

"The award is the culmination of a productive period in my creative research career," said Younge. "I am also pleased to share the award with my distinguished friend and colleague Michael Godby."

French connection: Prof Gavin Younge won a Creative Works Award for his exhibition Cheval de Bataille.