SA artist, Bongiwe Dhlomo, is born

Bongiwe (Bongi) Dhlomo-Mautloa, South African artist, was born in Vryheid, Natal. She grew up in Bergville, matriculated in Ladysmith and obtained a National Secretarial Certificate at Inanda Seminary. After working two years in the personnel department at the Tongaat Sugar Company, she studied printmaking at the Evangelical Lutheran Church Art and Craft Centre at Rorke's Drift. Between 1980 and 1983 she worked at the African Art Centre in Durban and from mid-1983 at the Grassroots Gallery in Westville. Dhlomo-Mautloa moved to Johannesburg at the end of that year and curated exhibitions at the FUBA Gallery until mid-1985. After that she worked at the Goodman Gallery in Hyde Park and later was appointed Co-ordinator of the Alexandra Art Centre. She was involved in the Thupelo Arts Project and is married to artist Kagiso Mautloa. Dhlomo-Mautloa exhibited in South Africa, Botswana, West Germany and Sweden. In 1983 she received the first prize for graphics at the UZ African Arts Festival and in 1986 an award for visual arts from the Woza Afrika Foundation, New York, USA.