By Nii B. Andrews
A Ghanaian undergraduate art student at KNUST, Priscilla Kennedy, has won the First Merit Award for this year’s Absa L’Atelier in Joburg.
This year marks the 32nd year for the prestigious award which is co- sponsored by Barclays and South African National Association for the Visual Arts (SANAVA).
The event was held at the landmark Absa Gallery in Joburg.
Kennedy’s winning piece UNTITLED 2016 confronts the social stereotype that portrays women as tools of seduction.
She stated, “With the kind of iconography and paradox that comes into the work, it’s literally giving women visibility through both the work’s medium and its artistic technique, considering the [contradictory] nature of both materials”.
The work depicts an embroidered female figure in underwear on a keffiyeh (scarf), while trying to hold her hands behind her back.
Her award includes a three-month residency at The Bag Factory Artists’ Studios in Joburg, a return flight to Joburg, and a monthly stipend.
Young and emerging artists from 10 African countries, namely South Africa, Botswana, Ghana, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mauritius, Seychelles and Mozambique competed for this year’s award.
L’Atelier aims to help further winners’ careers by providing them with unparalleled industry opportunities.
The full list of the 2017 L’Atelier Competition winners is as follows;
Overall winner, Maral Bolouri
Gerard Sekoto Award winner, Banele Khoza
First Merit Award winner, Priscilla Kennedy
Second Merit Award winner, Wilhelmina Nell
Third Merit Award winner, Manyatsa Monyamane
We warmly congratulate all the winners and encourage them to work even harder.