AWAA AWARD 2025
The African Women in Art Award is a visual art competition for women, created to showcase the immense talent of female visual artists from Sub-Saharan Africa.
The theme for 2025 is “Initiation”
Initiation marks the transition into adulthood, guided by elders through sacred knowledge, rituals, and trials—both physical and symbolic. In many African societies, this process signifies death and rebirth, sometimes accompanied by physical transformations.
We invite women artists to explore the theme of initiation and express their perspectives through art. This is an opportunity to reflect on traditions, question their relevance in today’s world, and reinterpret both personal and collective experiences. Coming-of-age rites can be sources of strength, identity, and transformation, but they can also embody pain and struggle.
Through diverse artistic practices, it is possible to convey the depth and complexity of these rites of passage. We encourage a dialogue that bridges past and present, the personal and the communal.