Rhodes University master’s student Philiswa Lila has won this year’s Gerard Sekoto Award in the pan-African Absa L’Atelier art awards.
Her prize includes a three-month residency at the Cité International des Arts in Paris, a solo exhibition in the Alliance Française network in SA and its partnering galleries, and French lessons through the Alliance Française.
Mthatha-born Lila, 30, took the award for Self-Titled, the first in a series of self-portraits related to her name, Philiswa, which means “be healed”.
“It’s been very exciting, the Gerard Sekoto Award is big and I look forward to going to Paris in April next year,” Lila said yesterday from Pretoria, where she is continuing her research for her MA in the history of art.
The French Embassy, Alliance Franciase and French Institute sponsor this award for the most promising artist who has previously entered the L’Atelier Awards and who has shown continual improvement in art-making.
Lila sculpted this particular piece from wood and beads, saying its visual simplicity was deceptive.
“I’ve been creating a lot of work about where I come from, and the name is more than translation, it has so much to it,” she said. “The beading process is quite meditative, and healing of itself.”
Her artist’s statement also reflects how she “explores the nuances of language, meaning and experiences of individualism as recognisable or familiar to collective frameworks of culture, mainly in isiXhosa”.
These themes are also highlighted in her studies at Rhodes, where she is examining ritual aspects of performance art, both physical and spiritual.
In other awards, Cape Town fine artist Marguerite Kirsten won the overall Absa L’Atelier Award for her installation Embodiment. The three merit awards winners this year were Gillian Abe of Uganda (Seat of Honour), Henry Obeng of Ghana (Recycle Frame 2) and Kirsten Eksteen of SA (Patterns and Pattern Body).
The other top 10 finalists were Carli Bassin (SA) (Shaped), Lemmeze Davids (SA) (Thank you for my lunch), Christiaan Kritzinger (SA) (Meltdown: new aesthetics in old landscapes), Ayo Akinwande (Nigeria) (Shrine), Lodewyk Barkhuizen (SA) (Hat disguised as map), and Sikelele Damane (SA) (Toyi, Toyi, Act 1).