Absa L’atelier opens a window to African art at a grassroots level

Despite the pan-African ethos we thought we embraced after 1994 our art scene has remained very parochial and dominated by South African art.

Fortunately, this pattern has been shifting. The xenophobic attacks that took hold in 2008 made us sharply aware of a need to connect to Africans elsewhere.

In 2015 Thembinkosi Goniwe curated a massive trio of exhibitions, Towards Intersections, presenting art from around our continent.

A focus on East African art shook the FNB Joburg Art Fair last year.

Aggressive commercial galleries have signed up African artists to cater for interest beyond our borders led by buyers at international art fairs such as the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair held in London and New York, and next year in Marrakech.

The Absa L’atelier art award, once dominated by young white South African artists, has become a thoroughly pan-African event since it set up collection points for entries in Ghana, Zambia, Botswana, Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique, among other countries. Read more