2017 L’Atelier art competition: Inscriptions open until April 28

The power of the L’Atelier art competition to open doors for young, emerging artists and provide them with a platform to share their art with the world, is highlighted in a new short film on L’Atelier Merit Award winner, Collen Maswanganyi. 

L’Atelier organisers are now calling on young artists across the continent to enter the L’Atelier 2017 art competition, which promises the winner and finalists’ access to unparalleled exposure and opportunities to grow their careers both in South Africa and abroad. L’Atelier 2017 is hosted by Barclays Africa in conjunction with the South African National Association for the Visual Arts (SANAVA). It enters its 32nd year this year, and is aimed at young, up and coming contemporary visual artists aged 21 to 35. 

The competition aims to nurture young talent, and serves as a platform for emerging artists to make their mark in the African art arena. As such it is open to young artists in the 10 African countries where Barclays Africa has a footprint, namely, South Africa, Botswana, Ghana, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mauritius, Seychelles and, for the first time in 2017, Mozambique.

Artists can submit up to a maximum of three artworks, with works being physically delivered to collection points for initial adjudication. Physical works will not be accepted at the collection points if artists have not completed their online registration.

Independent adjudicators at the various collection points will select the works that will go forward to the final adjudication round, which will be held in Johannesburg in June 2017.

Registration for L’Atelier is now open, and can be completed online at www.lateliercompetition.com. All artworks must be completed and submitted to their nearest collection point (see the website for details) between 24 and 28 April 2017.

The L’Atelier competition has been instrumental in launching many significant careers in the visual arts. Once again, it features a string of highly coveted art residency prizes for the top two winners and top three merit award recipients, in addition to a significantly increased first place cash prize of R300,000. The top 10 finalists are placed on a two-day art professionalism course to assist them in managing their careers.