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NASIPHI DEBE BECOMES VIDEO TECHNOLOGY FIRST FEMALE STUDENT TO WIN THE EMMA SMITH ART SCHOLARSHIP

NASIPHI DEBE BECOMES VIDEO TECHNOLOGY FIRST FEMALE STUDENT TO WIN THE EMMA SMITH ART SCHOLARSHIP

Budding filmmaker and Durban University of Technology alumna, Nasiphi Debe made history on Monday evening, 7 December 2021 by becoming the first woman from the Video Technology department to win the Emma Smith Art Scholarship Award 2020.

Debe was announced as the winner of the prestigious R44 500 scholarship award during an online ceremony held by the Faculty of Arts and Design on Microsoft Teams because of the Coronavirus gathering restrictions. She is the second student from Video Technology to win the award in its long history. The first was Ndumiso Mnguni who won in 2014 for his short film, Windows of Solitude.

The 29-year-old Debe won for her thought-provoking documentary, The life in-between which investigates how students who are first in their families to access higher education adapt to life at university.

Explaining more about her documentary, Debe said, “It explores how various factors such as family history, social integration, financial aid, mental health, and personal resilience influence how they perform in their undergraduate studies.”

Commenting on her win, the elated Debe described winning the scholarship as an honour and vowed to continue telling authentic stories through her work.

“As an artist I strive to produce work that can serve as a catalyst for social change. Receiving the Emma Smith Award for a documentary film is surreal because documentaries can present an “ugly truth” in the sense that they are an unfiltered medium of storytelling, so this recognition affirms that more than producing beautiful pictures, art is first about sincerity and preserving the integrity of the message you want to shed light on,” she said.

Debe who hails from Bizana, a town in the Eastern Cape plans on using her prize money to develop her documentary from a student project into a production that meets the professional broadcast standard.

“This will enable me to submit the documentary to film festivals and to local TV channels for national broadcast thus, reaching a wider audience for greater impact. I will also be working with the Faculty of Art and Design as well as Student Counselling at DUT to launch a campaign focused on identifying and meeting the unique needs of first-generation students on campus with aim of better equipping them for the university environment,” she explained.

Her hopes for the future include continuing “to create work that is honest, produce films that make people more compassionate and more aware of the complexity of the human experience. I want my work to live beyond the screen through making a lasting impact in society long after the credits have rolled. Essentially my wildest dream is to become an impact producer.”

Now in its 101st year, the scholarship was introduced in 1920 by KwaZulu-Natal Sugar Industry Magnate Sir Charles Smith. Named after his mother, Smith’s endowment was made in appreciation of the work of visionary Art School Head, John Adams.

The original intention of the scholarship was to allow winners to go overseas to study. The award has been extended to include a variety of purposes or projects proposed by the candidates. These include community-based workshops, further study in South Africa or the African continent and or solo exhibitions. The competition is open to students from the full range of design, visual and performing arts programmes offered at DUT. Members of the judging panel are drawn from leading practitioners in the various disciplines; nominated by heads of department.

Other students who took part in the 2020 competition are Lerato Shemi (Fashion Design), Alexandra van Heerden (Fashion Design), Siobahn Doughty (Fine Art), Sihle Alvin Inensiko (Fine Art), Charles Zulu (Graphic Design), and Nhlakanipho Nkomo (Photography).

Pictured: DUT alumna, Nasiphi Debe made history by becoming the first woman from the Video Technology department to win the Emma Smith Art Scholarship Award 2020.

Andile Dube

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