Golla Gallery in Addis Ababa hosted the opening of an exhibition featuring finalists and winners of the African Women in Art Award (AWAA) 2025.
The project is organised in partnership with the World Peoples Assembly, the “Her Voice Foundation,” and the I-A Gallery of Contemporary African Art.
The exhibition brings together works by artists from six countries: Angola, Rwanda, Zambia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Namibia. Its central theme, “Initiation” extends beyond traditional anthropological or ritual interpretations within the framework of the award.
In this context, initiation is understood as a process of inner transition: from one state to another, from socially assigned roles to personal choice, and from lived experience to its reflection and interpretation.
It may take the form of coming of age, professional self-determination, traumatic experience, or moments of inner rupture. The works reflect on how identity is formed not as a fixed condition but as an evolving and deeply individual process.
Krista Uvaze, winner in the Mixed Visual Media category, shared her perspective: “This is a unique opportunity for women artists to present their work beyond their home countries. This year’s theme, ‘Initiation,’ allowed me to show works that would have been difficult to present in another context.”
The AWAA is developing as a professional platform that provides women artists with access to international exhibition projects, collaborations, and institutional recognition.
It is grounded in the principles of cultural dialogue, gender equality, and expanding opportunities for women whose work remains underrepresented on the global art scene.
The project is implemented with the participation of the “Her Voice” Foundation, registered in Zambia, which combines cultural initiatives with educational and social programs across African countries.
Today, the foundation supports more than 200 girls by providing access to education, while the total number of participants in its programs exceeds 950.
Among the exhibiting artists is Ethiopian painter Selamawit Gebretsadik, whose practice is informed by her background in social work. Her compositions dissolve boundaries between human figures, plant forms, and landscape, creating a continuous visual field in which the figure exists in relation to its environment.
Recurrent leaf motifs function simultaneously as gesture, body, and markers of memory and time, building a dense, rhythmic pictorial space. Her work brings together Ethiopian visual traditions with elements of European modernism, resulting in a distinctly personal painterly language.
The exhibition forms part of a broader cultural programme leading up to World Public Summit Africa, which will take place in Addis Ababa on July 30 under the theme “A New World: Africa in Shaping a Shared Future.”
“Such concrete initiatives, those that create real opportunities and elevate the international recognition of African women artists, are an important step in preparing for the gathering of leaders from non-profit sectors, as well as public and cultural diplomacy, in Addis Ababa in July 2026,” said Yanina Dubeykovskaya, Deputy Executive Director of the World Peoples Assembly, founder of the AWAA and Trustee of “Her Voice” Foundation.
The upcoming Summit is conceived as a platform for rethinking international cooperation, grounded in shared responsibility for the future, respect for cultural values, and dialogue across societies.
Its agenda focuses on strengthening trust between nations, advancing a humanitarian framework for contemporary civilisation, and shaping new models of international communication.
In this context, the AWAA exhibition stands not only as the outcome of an art award, but as an independent statement on the role of culture in shaping a shared future through personal narratives, visual language, and experiences that transcend borders and contexts.
In the photo: INITIATION … This year’s African Women in Art Awards exhibition’s central theme, “Initiation”, extends beyond traditional anthropological or ritual interpretations.
