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T his year, Sotheby’s is hosting a benefit auction for the first ever . A collaboration between and — and sponsored by EON Reality — the prize supports work🍨 by artists working on the continent of Africa and ce꧙lebrates some of the most significant contemporary artists working today.
A board of 53 independent art professionals — consisting of curators and academics who work closely with artists in their respective regions — nominated artists to enter. A total of 336 entries were received from artists from 37 countries. Thirty finalists representing 18 different countries were then shortlisted by a panel of five world-class art specialists: David Elliott, Janine Gaëlle Dieudji, Khanya Mashabela, Marie-Ann Yemsi, and Tim Marlow. And on 15 February, 2022, 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Bonolo Kavula was announced as the winner of the inaugural prize, a ZAR 500,000 cash award and the opportunity for a solo exhibition at Norval Foundation in Cape Town. Kavula’s work, titled Tswelopele, is an abstract tapestry made from a repurposed shweshwe dress, a traditional South African fabric.
Work by the other twenty-nine finalists is now on view at The Norval Foundation, where they will also be voted on by the public. The shortlisted works excluding the Grand Prize Winner are also offered for 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:auction at Sotheby’s, with all proceeds going to the shortlisted artists and to raise funds f🌱or Norval Foundation’s Educational Program in an equal split.
Below, four finalists share their perspective on their work, how collectors can support﷽ artists, and the importance of contemporary art in Africa.
How would you describe contemporary art from Africa in five words or phrases?
Unapologetic, diverse, vibrant,꧙ thoughtful, anไd relevant.
Who are the three living artists you most admire?
Antonio Ole, Esther Mahlan🌊gu, and Abdouꦇlaye Konaté.
Who are three historical artists who have impacted your work?
Jean Depara, Albano Neves e Sousa, and 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Charles White.
What fuels you in your studio?
The need to be connected to my inner core.
What was your favorite group exhibition you have been included in and why?
“Redirect🅘ing” at the Tree Artඣ Museum in Beijing last year. It was sort of breaking through the walls of the pandemic. I felt reinvigorated.
What food or drinks pair well with your art?
Funge🌠 (an Angolan dish) and a freshwater or non-alcoholic beer.
How can collectors best support artists?
By being h🌞onest and genuine with the work they are collecting as well as the artist.
What is an artist’s greatest responsibility?
To be true to their roots and continu🥂e to push the narrative through their practice.
How would you describe contemporary art from Africa in five words or phrases?
Innovative, sophisticated, important, relevant, cri𝄹ti✃cal.
Who are the three living artists you most admire? Who are three historical artists who have impacted your work?
🌜Ooh, it’s like asking what’s your favorite food — it changes with every meal and depen𒉰ds on what my heart desires. I love the work of Frowhawk Two Feathers, Lungiswa Gqunta, and Igshaan Adams.
Historically, it’s difficult to say. Over the years, I have reflected and studied endless min🌠iature Mughal paintings and Islamic textiles made byﷺ unnamed artists. I am forever grateful for their contribution to my life.
What fuels you in your studio?
Anger.
What was your favorite group exhibition you have been included in and why?
“” at the Ford Foundation in Ne🐻w York. It was incredibly exciting to be a part of such a great show curated by extr🀅aordinary women of color.
What food or drinks pair well with your art?
Hertzoggies and twee gevrietjies. ♚They are biscuits often featured 🔜in my work.
They were invented by the “Cape-Malay” community to demonstrate their support for the politician J.B.M. Hertzog after he promised to give women the right to vote and to give equal rights to the colored community in the 1920s. After fulfilling the first promise in 1930, but not the second, the community began baking the cookies with a brown and pink icing called twee gevreetjie 𒅌(Afrikaans for “hypocrite”) to show their dissatisfaction. These cakes continue to live in our community as a reminder not to trust politicia🍨ns.
And a cup of rooibos tea.
How can collectors best support artists?
By buying artists’ work.
What is an artist’s greatest responsibility?
To be true to themselves and their practice.
How would you describe contemporary art from Africa in five words or phrases?
Poetic, prophetic, and beyond West-ce💫ntric categorization.
Who are the three living artists you most admire?
Gresham Tapiwa Nyaude, Wycliffe Mundopa, Mavis 𝕴Tuazeni, Shamilla Asha.
Who are three historical artists who have impacted your work?
168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Helen Frankenthaler, Ana Mendieta, 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Edvard Munch.
What fuels you in your studio?
Coffee and good music.
What was your favorite group exhibition you have been included in and why?
“” (2018) at First Floor Gallery in Harare, because we had just moved into theꦛ new gallery space in Harare’s Karigamombe Centre♎, and it was a really exciting moment for all of us.
How can collectors best support artists?
Buying their work.
What is an artist’s greatest responsibility?
Being true to themselves and treatin🍸g their work with integrity.
How would you describe contemporary art from Africa in five words or phrases?
Complex, edౠucational, rapidly evolving, full of rejuvenating and vibrant colors, and rooted in the ancestors.
Who are the three living artists you most admire?
168开奖官方开奖网站查询:El Anatsui, 168开奖官方开奖网站查询:Yayoi Kusama, and Simone Saunders.
Who are three historical artists who have impacted your work?
My father, Rocky Mafafo. Dumile 𝄹Feni and Cinga Samson.
What fuels you in your studio?
The stories of the women in my life and those whom I come across. Women and their complex lives are a constant source of inspiration. I create art that tells t🐟hese stories and brings them front and center, as I feel they are usually left out of our general discourse.
I am also in love with colors and textures. I love bringi𓃲ng different colors together, mixing them up in ways that often surprise and awe me. To me, creating is spiritual — it is always as if I were creating from the unknown worlds.
What was your favorite group exhibition you have been included in and why?
“,” from 18 December, 2019🅷, through 10 January, 2020, i🃏n Istanbul, Turkey
I adore 𒈔travel because it really broadens my worldview and creates greater pools of inspiration for me. Turkey was particularly wonderful. Istanbul teems with culture and h📖istory; the buildings are magnificent and old in a way that makes you feel like you are living in history.
I was inspired by the vast array of richܫ textiles, tapestries, and the different ways in which color was used and combi🍎ned. The whole experience added to my overall knowledge in a way that was priceless.
What food or drinks pair well with your art?
I am a vegetarian, so I am happy to say vegetarian꧑ meals made with vibrant and colorful vegetables and fruits. And most importantly, meals made with love.
A🥀lso, a great gl🦩ass of Cape Red wine or berry-inspired juices.
How can collectors best support artists?
It is important for artists to be affirme♛d. Artists usually work in isolation during the process of creating, as it is a deeply personal an🍌d an all-engaging process.
A good way to support artists would be by engaging with our work, especially when it is not in an exhibition, through social media. Collectors showing interest in 🐭our work and the ongoing process, finding out what is upcoming🃏, and talking to us about the art, would be very affirming, indeed.
What is an artist’s greatest responsibility?
My greatest responsibility is to inﷺform, educate, and inspire. I do this through telling my stor🅘y and the simple and compelling stories that I come across.
My art provides a platform for discussing issues that are sometimes hard to engage with, howe🦩ver that are made possible through art. I feel a responsibility to engage with current issues that are relevant and important through the process of picture-telling. I want my art to be informative to young🍬 people and to be a vehicle through which I can uplift African women.
![View 1 of Lot 9: Great Black Water is my name. My forms (are) the forms of Khepri, the foliage of Atum. Repeat. I entered as one who was ignorant; I have gone forth as an akh. [I] shall be seen in my form as a human forever.’ Extract from The Papyrus of Sobekmose](http://laitexier.com.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/fb3aff2/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3500x3629+0+0/resize/330x342!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsothebys-md.brightspotcdn.com%2Fd8%2Fd8%2Fbbd800534e08b1c98c8e3404a009%2Fzohraopoku-greatblack-waterismyname.jpg)
