The Africa Centre has announced the shortlists for the 2017 Artists In Residency programmes, including The JRB Contributing Editor Efemia Chela.
The residencies are offered to African artists, from emerging to late career, who are ‘socially engaged, provocative, innovative and stretching the boundaries of their artistic practice’.
Artists, who may be composers, writers, video and filmmakers, curators, visual and performance artists as well as others, are placed in residencies in Australia, Brazil, Spain, Italy and the United States.
Last year, The Africa Centre received a total of 351 applications. An external selection panel selected the shortlist of twenty-eight artists, which will now be submitted to The Africa Centre’s partners for final selection.
Chela, who was recently shortlisted for the Gerald Kraak Award for an essay published in the inaugural issue of The JRB, has been shortlisted for the General Competition.
Other shortlistees who have been featured in The JRB include Sisonke Msimang, Ayòbámi Adébáyò and Nick Mulgrew.
The Shortlist for the AIR—Bellagio Center residency competition
Ayobami Adebayo | Literature | Nigeria
Biyi Bandele | Multidisciplinary | Nigeria
Francis Nii Obodai | Visual Arts | Ghana
Mona Eltahawy | Literature | Egypt
Mo Abudu | Film | Nigeria
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah | Literature | Ghana
Noo Saro-Wiwa | Literature | Nigeria
Sisonke Msimang | Literature | South Africa
Sokari Douglas Camp | Visual Arts | Nigeria
Sylvia Vollenhoven | Literature | South Africa
Yemisi Aribisala | Literature | Nigeria
The shortlist for the General Competition, which awards residencies at Bundanon Trust (Australia); Fountainhead (USA); Instituto Sacatar (Brazil); JIWAR Creation & Society (Spain); and the International Studio and Curatorial Practice (USA)
Adrian van Wyk | Literature | South Africa
Aida Muluneh | Visual Arts | Nigeria
Amira Hanafi | Visual Arts | Egypt
Cara Stacey | Music | South Africa
Efemia Chela | Literature | Ghana & Zambia
Frederick Bamfo | Visual Arts | Ghana
Galina Juritz | Music | South Africa
Modupeola Olufunke Fadugba | Visual Arts | Nigeria
Mohamed Osman Mohamed Altoum | Film | Sudan
Ngendo Mukii | Visual Arts | Kenya
Nick Mulgrew | Literature | South Africa
Osasuyi Okungbowa | Literature | Nigeria
Sarra I Saeed | Music | Sudan
Sethembile Msezane | Visual Arts | South Africa
Shatha Al-deghady | Visual Arts | Egypt
Simone Haysom | Literature | South Africa
Tawanda Takura | Visual Arts | Zimbabwe
The AIR—Bellagio Center winner announcements are scheduled for early May, while those for the General Competition will be released in early March.
