FNB Art Joburg will return to Sandton Convention Centre

Kelebogile Marope

Born in Ramotswa, Botswana, Marope has steadily built a practice that has gained recognition across the region. After completing a Bachelor of Fine Art followed by a Master of Fine Art at Rhodes University, she has exhibited in Botswana and South Africa while continuing to expand her multidisciplinary practice. Her selection as the 2026 FNB Art Prize winner, and notably as the first artist from Botswana to receive the award, marks an important milestone in both her career and the growing international recognition of Botswana’s contemporary art scene.

Working across sculpture, drawing and mixed media, Marope’s practice explores the relationship between memory, identity and the spaces we inhabit. Drawing from domestic environments and everyday materials, she investigates how ordinary objects, surfaces and architectural details become repositories of lived experience. Through a careful and process-led approach, her work reveals how the rituals of daily life shape our understanding of home, belonging and collective memory, inviting viewers to reconsider the significance of the familiar.