Organizations Expand Cultural Dialogue and Create New Opportunities

A new exhibition of African women artists opened in Addis Ababa this week, putting the winners and finalists of the African Women in Art Award (AWAA) 2025 on public display ahead of the World Public Summit Africa.

The Golla Gallery in Ethiopia’s capital hosted the show, a collaboration between the World Peoples Assembly, the “Her Voice Foundation”, and the I-A Gallery of Contemporary African Art. Works by artists from six countries — Angola, Ethiopia, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Zambia — are gathered for the presentation.

 

Curated around the theme “Initiation,” the exhibition treats the concept not as merely ritual or anthropological rite but as an inward passage: shifts from one identity to another, from roles imposed by society to choices made by the individual, and from lived events to their interpretation through art.

 

The artists represent initiation in varied registers — from coming of age and professional self-definition to traumatic rupture and quiet inner transformation. Together, their works argue that identity is not fixed but continually remade.

 

Krista Uvaze, who won in the Mixed Visual Media category, said the platform offers a rare chance for women to show beyond national borders. “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,” she said.

 

AWAA is positioning itself as a professional conduit for women artists seeking international exposure, institutional recognition, and collaborative projects. The award aims to expand cultural dialogue and gender equity while lifting artists who have been underrepresented on the global stage.

 

The initiative includes the involvement of the “Her Voice Foundation”, a Zambia-registered organisation that pairs cultural projects with educational and social programming across Africa.

 

Currently the Foundation supports more than 200 girls with access to education, and its programs reach over 950 participants in total. Among the exhibitors is Ethiopian painter Selamawit Gebretsadik, whose background in social work informs a practice that blurs human figures, foliage, and landscape into a continuous pictorial field.

 

In Gebretsadik’s canvases, recurring leaf motifs act as gesture, body and mnemonic device, constructing a dense, rhythmic visual space. Her language draws on Ethiopian visual traditions while engaging elements of European modernism, yielding a distinct, personal approach to painting.

 

The exhibition is part of a wider cultural program leading up to the World Public Summit Africa, scheduled to 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 important steps 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 envisioned as a forum to rethink international cooperation around shared responsibility, cultural respect and cross-societal dialogue. Its program emphasizes rebuilding trust between nations, advancing a humanitarian framework for contemporary civilisation, and developing new models of international communication.

 

Viewed in that light, the AWAA exhibition functions beyond the confines of an art prize: it is a cultural statement on how personal stories and visual practice can help shape a shared future that transcends borders.