Moroccan artists win Norval Sovereign African Art Prize 2024
Norval Foundation and the Sovereign Art Foundation (SAF) have announced the winner of the 2024 Norval Sovereign African Art Prize (NSAAP).
During the private exhibition opening dedicated to the finalists, Moroccan artist Amina Ageuznay was pronounced the grand prize winner of the third NSAAP.
The winning work, Portal #1, is tactile and sensory, featuring natural materials, including palm husk, untreated wool and palm leaves.
The work originated from an invitation by eco-architect and anthropologist Salima Naji to lead workshops for the women of Tissekmoudine, a “ksar” or settlement in southern Morocco.
Central to the ksar’s identity are its doors.
During these workshops, participants engaged in self-observation, documenting their daily routines and spatial interactions.
The women’s sketches of these doors were transformed into wool weavings.
Ageuznay developed her own interpretations of these doors, incorporating alternative materials from the oasis like talefdamt (palm husk) and ifraoune (palm leaves).
Her work was selected through a rigorous adjudication process by a panel of five global judges, and she beat out 374 entries and 26 shortlisted finalists.
Ageuznay is represented by Loft Art Gallery in Marrakesh, Morocco.
As an architect, Ageuznay embarks on journeys through urban and rural regions across Morocco, seeking out artisans to document their indigenous design techniques and traditions.
This research profoundly influences her own contemporary interventions, emphasising the collaborative essence of creation, especially in the realm of textile work.
Ageuznay said after winning: “I am so honoured and that I am being awarded a prize from another part of the continent other than where I am from is that much greater.
“The recognition means the world to me and a win such as this reassures me that the way I have been pursing my work and how I want to work in the future is the correct way.”
The exhibition opening started the VIP programming of the annual Investec Cape Town Art Fair.
A board of 59 independent art professionals from across the globe nominated 160 artists, who ultimately submitted 375 works for the prize.
The NSAAP board comprised Ashraf Jamal (writer and researcher, ArtBankSA and University of Johannesburg); Heba el Kayal (chief curatorial consultant, Norval Foundation); Marie-Ann Yemsi (independent exhibition curator and contemporary art consultant); Ngaire Blankenberg (founder and director, Institute for Creative Repair) and Sean O’Toole (writer, editor and curator). Reflecting on the judging process and the winner, Jamal said: “A great final decision has been made. After hours of deep reflection the jury stayed true to the greater goal of the prize – the choice of an artist with an enduring vision of the lives and triumphs of woman of the African desert.
“The continent is massive and complex, the drives exhilaratingly diverse, as it should be on a continent that will gift the earth a ‘human face’.
“These words, by Steve Bantu Biko, express Africa’s greater purpose, and the role of our artist’s in fulfilling this noble vision.”
The NSAAP celebrates the practices of leading contemporary artists and aims to benefit them by further increasing their exposure to an international audience.
Ageuznay will be awarded a cash prize of $35 000 (about R660 000), the opportunity for a solo exhibition at Norval Foundation as well as an artist residency in London, supported by Outset Contemporary Art Fund.
The remaining 26 finalists’ works were auctioned online by Sotheby’s. The funds raised were to be split between the artists and the art education mission of the Norval Foundation.
“The standard of this year’s entries has been phenomenal and the auction provides collectors a chance to acquire work by some of the most exciting artists of today, while directly supporting the artists themselves and the wonderful ongoing educational work provided by the Norval Foundation,” said Sotheby’s senior director of modern and contemporary African art Hannay O’Leary.
“Sotheby’s is delighted to support such a great cause and remains dedicated to showcasing the very best talent from across the African continent.”
Previous winners of NSAAP are Famakan Magassa (born 1997, Mali) and Bonolo Kavula (born 1992, South Africa), Alioune Daigne (born 1985, Senegal) and Rene Tavares (born 1983 São Tomé and Principe).
The public vote prize for NSAAP 2024 still remains to be awarded at the end of the exhibition. –
The continent is massive and complex