The Emerging African Art Galleries Association (EAAGA) has announced the second edition of the Emerging Painting Invitational (EPI), an annual fete which will take place from the 12th to the 19th of October.
EPI is an annual Pan-African prize of emerging painting which was inaugurated last year in Harare.
It is dedicated to supporting emerging contemporary painting and painters across the continent.
Last year’s edition saw more than 60 international visitors from all over the world and emerging artists from across Africa converge in Harare for an exhibition and a series of workshops and studio visits spotlighting the capital as a contemporary art and tourist destination.
This year, EPI features 17 finalists from 8 African countries but due to travel restrictions across Africa, the 2020 edition will be an online exhibition project supported by a programme of talks, studio visits and interactions in collaboration with Strauss & Co. The winners will be announced on the final day.
“While contemporary African art has been on the rise internationally, developing skills and engaging the international art world is still a challenge for many young painters on the continent,” says EAAGA Chair Valerie Kabov.
“EPI intends to help motivate, support and develop the practices and careers of young African visual artists.
“Supporting emerging painters is not just enormously significant culturally, it is to ensure the economic sustainability of local art sectors. EPI was developed with a holistic vision for art on the continent.”
The Jurors for EPI 2020 are three remarkable female artists, namely Dorothy Amenuke, sculptor and lecturer at the Department of Painting and Sculpture of the Faculty of Fine Art, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) (Kumasi, Ghana), Amel Bennys a painter and sculptor based in Tunis and Paris and Florine Demosthene, a painter who is based in Accra, Haiti and New York.
To be eligible for EPI, artists must be under 30, living and working on the continent, and have painting as their primary discipline.
The event is being sponsored by Strauss & Co, Art Africa Magazine, Emerging Africa Art Galleries Association, Pro Helvetia Johannesburg/Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), The African Arts Trust, First Floor Gallery Harare, Artfundi, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Angola Air, Espaço Luanda Arte, Guns & Rain and Ngoma neHosho.
List of Finalists
- Agnes Waruguru N`joroge (Kenya)
- Dorra Mahjoubi (Tunisia)
- Elias Mung’ora (Kenya)
- Emna Kahouaji (Tunisia)
- Eyasu Telayneh (Ethiopia)
- George Masarira (Zimbabwe)
- Kirubel Abebe (Ethiopia)
- Kylie Wentzel (South Africa)
- Lincoln Mwangi (Kenya)
- Lwando Dlamini (South Africa)
- Peteros Ndunde ( Kenya)
- Sejiro Avoseh (Nigeria)
- Selome Muleta (Ethiopia)
- Willy Karekezi (Rwanda)
- Tashinga Majiri (Zimbabwe)
- Thebe Phetogo (Botswana)
- Yolanda Mazwana (South Africa)
