Kelebogile Marope has been named the winner of the 2026 FNB Art Prize, making her the first artist from Botswana to receive the award.
Marope, who works across sculpture, drawing, and mixed media, explores the intricate relationships between memory, identity, and the spaces we inhabit. Her practice draws on domestic environments and everyday materials, examining how ordinary objects, surfaces, and architectural details become repositories of lived experience.
Born in Ramotswa, Botswana, Marope completed a Bachelor of Fine Art and a Master of Fine Art at Rhodes University. She has exhibited across Botswana and South Africa, steadily developing a multidisciplinary practice that has now earned her one of the continent’s significant contemporary art accolades.
Accepting the prize, Marope spoke of its significance beyond personal recognition: “They gave me a voice, and that voice is going to build companies. That voice is going to build the infrastructure that Southern Africa needs to be at a point where we can stand on our own feet without anyone saying anything.”
As the 2026 winner, Marope will receive a cash prize and hold a solo exhibition at the Johannesburg Art Gallery in 2027.
