The ANNA Award is back for another year after a successful debut in 2022. This award aims to discover, recognize, and support emerging women-identifying artists from Africa and its diaspora. This year 743 applications from 38 countries were received, and the selection committee, including Swakara Atwell-Bennett, Leanne Human, Ruzy Rusike, and Key Jo Leee, has chosen 12 finalists.
The winner of the ANNA Award will receive a prize of R100,000, a residency program with SAFFCA, a chance to present at the 2025 RMB Latitudes Art Fair, a feature on Latitudes Online, and a year’s supply of ANNA products. The exciting announcement of the winner will take place on Wednesday, August 7, to coincide with Women’s Month.
Among the finalists is Ethel Aanyu, a photographer from Kampala, Uganda, known for her digital layering techniques using black and white and coloured inverted images. Her work often features herself as a model in visually striking scenes that reflect self-reflections.
Yaknoabasi’s art focuses on sisterhood, women’s empowerment, and the divine feminine, drawing inspiration from her female family members. Her pieces showcase unity and strength in sisterhood, celebrating the grace and power of the divine feminine.
Marie Aimée Fattouche‘s art taps into mechanics of the mind, body, and environment, infused with influences from her Egyptian heritage and Eastern perceptions of space. Her work challenges collective narratives, exploring themes of femininity and power mechanisms.
Kay-Leigh Fisher, based in Johannesburg, is a visual artist, curator, and publisher whose work centre’s on identity exploration using familiar objects to look into racial and gendered identities. She has received recognition such as the Bag Factory Artist Studios Young Womxn Studio Bursary and collaborates with the Joburg Contemporary Art Foundation.
Leah Rachel Hawker, a South African artist, explores gender roles and human behaviour in her work. With two decades of experience, she brings her observations to her art, currently working on her first solo show and a documentary photo story.
Xanthe Scout Lardner-Burke, also from South Africa, is an artist, curator, and writer whose practice involves material exploration, structures, language, and value production. She has curated projects and exhibited at prominent galleries.
Isabella Maake, is a contemporary visual artist from South Africa, uses art to walk into identity, dualism, and vulnerability, often featuring portraiture and figurative art.
Ntsako Nkuna’s interdisciplinary practice merges screen-printed 3D renders and metallic frames to explore how architecture influences human interactions. She blends digital and physical mediums influenced by virtual spatial experiences.
Lee-Ann Olwage, a visual storyteller from South Africa, uses collaborative storytelling to delve into gender and identity themes, aiming to celebrate and affirm her collaborators.
Silindokuhle Shandu, an artist from Johannesburg, explores womanhood, human existence, and industrial landscapes in her work, drawing from her diverse experiences across South Africa.
Xanthe Somers, a ceramic sculptor from Harare, Zimbabwe, challenges norms of beauty and everyday life through her work, completing a recent residency in Cape Town.
The ANNA Award highlights the talent and creativity of these accomplished women artists, offering them a platform to shine and be recognized for their exceptional contributions to the art world.
