Norval Sovereign African Art Prize 2025 sponsored by Schroders
Timed Online Auction, 31 January - 13 March 2025
Norval Sovereign African Art Prize 2025 sponsored by Schroders
About the SessionStrauss & Co are delighted to present The Norval Sovereign African Art Prize 2025, sponsored by Schroders, benefit auction.
The Norval Sovereign African Art Prize 2025 supports contemporary artists working in Africa or within the African diaspora by expanding their international reach in the global art market while also raising funds for arts education initiatives across the continent. A collaboration between The Sovereign Art Foundation and the Norval Foundation, the Prize celebrates the work of some of the most significant contemporary artists today.
You can view the work by the 28 finalists at an exhibition at the Norval Foundation in Cape Town, open to the public until 20 April 2025. All works are offered on the Strauss & Co online auction, closing Thursday 13 March 2025, from 2 pm. The auction aims to generate significant funds for both the shortlisted artists and Norval Foundation’s Learning Centre, with proceeds split equally.
Norval Foundation and The Sovereign Art Foundation (SAF) are delighted to announce Modupeola Fadugba as the Grand Prize Winner for The Norval Sovereign African Art Prize 2025, sponsored by Schroders. With her work, Portrait Of An Artist At Ease, Modupeola Fadugba from Nigeria, is the 4th winner of the prize, which seeks to celebrate the practices of leading contemporary artists and aims to benefit them by further increasing their exposure to an international audience. As well as the honour, Modupeola Fadugba will be awarded a cash prize to the value of US$35,000, the opportunity for a solo exhibition at Norval Foundation in Cape Town, and a two-week cultural residency at Outset Contemporary Art Fund in London. In addition, the very first winner of the FAMM Women's Prize was awarded to DuduBloom More, the highest-rated female artist (excluding the Grand Prize Winner), for her work Contending With Control.
For Shipping enquiries, please contact: Jenna-Leigh Kleingeld +27 (0)87 654 5900 accounts@norvalfoundation.org
For Condition enquiries, please contact: Carmen Joubert +27 (0)67 375 7791 carmen.joubert@norvalfoundation.org
ZAR 350 000
About this Item
signed
Notes
This ceramic tapestry pays homage to craft traditions, constructed from 3,189 handcrafted clay palm kernel shell beads, woven together with copper wire to replicate the luxurious West African gown known as Babariga or Agbada. The shells were bisque-fired, selectively glazed, and inlaid with glass made from crushed recycled bottles, before being re-fired at high temperatures. The meticulous studio process gives the shells a glass bead-like quality, recalling their historical use as currency in the transatlantic slave trade. Today, beads are symbols of prestige and social status in much of West Africa. Created during a time of intense political power struggle in Nigeria’s Rivers State, the present evokes both the agbada (a symbol of political affluence) and medieval plate armor, reflecting Africa’s ongoing political turmoil and the complexities of power.
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