On Sunday, 22 February 2026, the Soil & Water Dialogues continued at the Cape Town Art Fair. The talk featured co-curator of Soil & Water Prof Johan Thom and participating artists Atang Tshikare, Ledelle Moe, Diana Vives & Douglas Gimberg and Seretese Moletsane. Thom introduced the artistic project and the speakers. During his opening address, Thom noted how the ecological imperative of the project was framed in this case not only by the material, spiritual, historical and pragmatic present-day concerns about the polluted water supply in the Cradle of Humankind but, also, how the project itself allowed artists to explore these ideas freely. From a curatorial perspective, Spoil & Water serves as a creative mapping of the various ways in which the materials of soil and water figure in various South African and international artists’ work, thus also linking the local with the global. The project also seeks to extend the ethos of NIROX as a not-for-profit initiative, allowing artists to work without the pressure of market-based concerns and various forms of possible creative interference, political and otherwise. Thereafter, participating South African artists Atang Tshikare, Ledelle Moe, Diana Vives & Douglas Gimberg and Seretese Moletsane all individually presented examples of the artworks they produced as part of SOIL & WATER. These carefully considered artistic responses served as a poignant reminder of the deeply meaningful role that soil and water play in all of our lives, especially given our seeming collective human incapacity to protect the area known as the Cradle of Humankind - the space of our collective origins as a species on earth.