South African artist Ndlovukazi Ngilande, winner of the 2025 Absa L’Atelier Gerard Sekoto Award, recently completed a three-month residency at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris, the first component of her award.
Supported by the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS), Absa and the South African National Association for the Visual Arts (SANAVA), the Gerard Sekoto Award provides a young South African artist with a residency in Paris, followed by a solo exhibition in South Africa the following year.
From May to July, Ndlovukazi used her time in Paris to develop sketches and sculptural mock-ups in preparation for new ceramic works. These will inform her forthcoming solo exhibition in Pietermaritzburg, marking the next stage of the award.
Ndlovukazi described the residency as a period of intimacy and spiritual growth, coinciding with a time of transition and transformation in her artistic practice. She was joined in Paris by her young daughter, making the residency an important personal experience as well as an opportunity to develop her work.
Her return to South Africa now begins the next phase of the project, as she develops the ceramic works that will form part of her solo exhibition.
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