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The past weekend was a spectacle of creativity as visual artists from across the continent, media and patrons of the arts gathered in Midrand on Saturday. Guests gathered to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Absa L’Atelier Art Awards as well as welcome this year’s winners to their new journey.
The celebrations took place over two days, with Sunday being a more relaxed and intimate session where media and the artists got the opportunity to interact.
Getting to know the artists
The 40th anniversary of the L’Atelier was even more special for Zambian visual arts as 2026 became the year when this country finally won its first award.
This year’s three ambassadors are Reginald Boateng (Ghana), Emmanuel Chisenga (Zambia) and Segun Owolabi (Nigeria). The Gerard Sekoto Award was snatched by KwaZulu-Natal’s Treasure Mlima.
Emmanuel described his win as a bridge between young and emerging visual artists in his country, with Absa and the South African market
“It also means hope for young artists because someone from home has finally now done it for them,” he said.
What makes this win and his statement about hope even more significant is that Emmanuel’s studio suffered floods earlier this year, and the pieces he entered the awards with were the only artworks that survived.
“These pieces are very important to me because I lost everything in the floods. They were my last hope to bring Zambian visual arts to the competition,” Emmanuel shared.
He expressed gratitude, saying he had been waiting for such an opportunity for many years and, upon his return home, he will dedicate the rest of this month to his exams before giving his full attention to the art.
Just like Gerard Sekoto, Treasure is also a self-taught artist.
When doing research before being announced as a winner, he acquainted himself with previous winners, which elevates his level of appreciation for this victory. Treasure’s vision to use arts as a medium for social activism perfectly aligns with the pan-African approach of the L’Atelier.
“Everything matters, history matters, good and bad of it because there's always a lesson,” Treasure said.
His parents were resistant to his career path at first as he is the first in his bloodline to take this direction with his life. However, they are starting to see the fruits that his talent is bearing and are now fully supportive of his journey.
Fashion, visual and performance arts at the 2026 Absa L’Atelier Art & Lifestyle Fair
Following the walk-abouts, various sip and paint sessions, a presentation by veteran fashion designer David Tlale and performances by Msaki, the Soweto Gospel Choir and Elaine on Saturday, the afternoon culminated in the unveiling of the award winners.
The choir staged an energised delivery of various gospel hymns and South African anthems like Miriam Makeba’s timeless Pata Pata, Msaki took the audience down a journey of African musicality and Elaine electrified guests with a tribute to the legendary Brenda Fassie.
These tributes by Elaine and the choir fit perfectly into the commemoration of 40 years of the L’Atelier. The awards were launched in 1986 and the inaugural winner was South African artist Penny Siopis.
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Speaking about this momentous occasion, Tlale applauded the bank for its commitment to supporting the severely underfunded African arts sector, calling on other corporates to also heed the call. “Supporting the arts is the right thing to do,” he asserted.
Tlale’s partnership with the bank is part of the latter’s broader lifestyle activations to bridge fine art, fashion and economic development. Tlale said through this partnership, the young designers at his academy are empowered with market access.
The internationally acclaimed designer’s David Tlale Academy, launched last year, shares Absa’s core values of youth development as the L’Atelier awards are rooted in cultivating Africa’s emerging visual arts talent.
“When Absa came on board we welcomed the opportunity for youth development because this is right up our alley. But the partnership goes further than that because in March we designed the Absa Cape Epic backpack,” he shared.
The initiative was in celebration of the bank’s 20th anniversary as the title sponsor for the popular mountain bike race and all the athletes received the bag, which reaffirms his statement about market access for his students.
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