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05 May 2021 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa
Once again, a Kovsie takes the crown for this year’s 2021 Miss Free State beauty pageant.

Rofhiwa Fatima Galatia is a 21-year-old BCom Accounting student at the University of the Free State (UFS), and the newly crowned Miss Free State 2021.
Rofhiwa is also a UFS athlete and co-founder of Immeasurable Women – a nongovernmental organisation (NGO) that is all about women and community upliftment. 

She entered the Miss Free State competition in order to align herself with the pageant’s brands, which aims to empower and support the ideals of an intellectual woman who embodies leadership and wants to foster development in communities. 
“I believe that generational poverty is caused by a lack of a support system,” Rofhiwa remarked.

“My next step is to use this platform to uphold the South African patronage system of the Miss Free State competition. I want to encourage talent and fight food insecurity within our community, and further empower women and the community as a whole by breaking the stigma of limitations and poverty, through soliciting support and participation from business,” stated Rofhiwa.  

She further explained that she believes it is her responsibility to show people that they are immeasurable and that they can be ordinary people with extraordinary dreams. 

News Archive

Art2 + x [science] = 2 continents fused
2014-04-02


Left: Diamandini by Dr Mari Velonaki. Right: 'Muslim Hairdrying' by Cigdem Aydemir.

Mzanzi resistance art is set to fuse with Australian interdisciplinary art in an experimental ‘boiling pot’ – right here on our Bloemfontein Campus.


Program for Innovation in Artform Development (PIAD)

Kovsies and the Vryfees forged a highly-innovative link between South African and Australian artists by establishing the Program for Innovation in Artform Development (PIAD). Together we are embarking on a three-year collaboration to see what happens when experimental and community arts are fused.

The project includes intercultural laboratories, art and science exchange programmes, public forums as well developing and presenting experimental art.


Art(ist)s meet science(tists)

For the first time, two Australian artists will visit our Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences in an exchange programme. The one is Dr Mari Velonaki, director of the Creative Robotics Lab at the University of New South Wales. The other is Dr Nigel Helyer, an honorary research fellow at the SymbioticA biotechnology lab at the University of Western Australia.

Dr Velonaki will explore new links between humans and computers that are community orientated. She will work closely with Prof PJ Blignaut and the Department of Computer Science and Informatics. In turn, Dr Helyer will investigate genetic coding and intercultural musical compositions. He will collaborate with Prof J Albertyn at the Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology.

Vryfees 2014 and 2015 will also see contemporary and highly-experimental works from renowned Australian artists Cigdem Aydemir and Jess Olivieri. In addition, the festival will present OPENLab – a new national laboratory for early and midcareer artists and creative practitioners interested in making art in the public realm.

The programme is the result of a close partnership between the Vryfees and Situate Art in Festivals, managed by Salamanca Arts Centre in Australia (www.situate.org.au).

It also enjoys the support of:

  • Australia Council for the Arts;
  • NSW Artists Grant Scheme administrated by the National Association of the Visual Arts LTD;
  • Situate Art in Festivals;
  • National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund and
  • Modern Art Project SA.

For more information on Piad visit www.vryfees.co.za or https://www.facebook.com/pages/PikoPiad/1435158293383474.

 

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