MAKWANDE
L’ABONDANCE
Alliance Française Cultural Centre, Pretoria
8 October to 6 November 2026
Curated by Linde Kriel
ABOUT THE TITLE
Makwande is isiXhosa for 'let them grow' or 'may they multiply'. L'Abondance is French for 'abundance'. Together they say 'let them grow in abundance'. The isiXhosa carries the founding intention of the business, while the French nods to the host venue, the Alliance Française, and frames the exhibition as an abundance of prints.
Selected from about 186 submitted prints through an open call, the exhibition brings together artists from UFS, UJ, UP, TUT, CUT and other institutions across South Africa.
Foreword, Hugo De Groot, Public Relations Officer, Alliance Française Pretoria
There is something inherently fascinating about printmaking: the way that images are repeated and multiplied, each one a very light variation or texture. Each image is born from pressure, pressed into place, and transferred from one surface or material to another; a mercurial relationship between hand and machine, leaving an indelible impression. Printmaking is concepts given breath as the inks and paints dry, solidifying the labour of their creators. This exhibition brings to the fore 'l'abondance' of artistic expressions in printmaking. Allow yourself the time to explore and appreciate the tensions between control and chance and how matrix and material are arranged. Let each print speak for itself as you take in the multitude of subtle permutations that make up an experience of abundance.
Curator's introduction, Linde Kriel
This exhibition brings together 42 artists from institutions across South Africa, including the University of the Free State, the University of Johannesburg, the Central University of Technology, the Tshwane University of Technology, the University of Pretoria and others. They are united not by style or theme, but by the shared act of making prints by hand during the course of their studies. From about 186 submitted prints spanning 13 printmaking techniques, 94 prints have been selected. Some artists submitted work made years ago, preserved from earlier in their undergraduate journeys. Others submitted work completed in 2026, ink still fresh. What has struck me most in curating this exhibition is not any single work, but the collective weight of all of them together: the evidence of a generation of young South African printmakers who are making meaningful, skilled and deeply considered work, often without the platform to show it. Makwande l'Abondance is that platform. It is, above all, an act of faith in the artist as a student, and in the print as a work of art worthy of being seen, collected and lived with.
Meet the curator
Curator Linde Kriel on Makwande l'Abondance, the open call and why student prints deserve to be seen.
In the gallery
THE WORKS
Woodblock
Linocut
Baxa Kekile abantu
Lonwabo Tyutyu
Challenger
Lizka Fouche
Family Roast
Luca Geldenhuys
For Street Kids
Sethu Menye
Goals
Shalom Chimuanya Anizoba
Horseplay
Zita Christine Oranje
Nightfall's Embrace
Siphiwe Khumalo
Other
Iqra Ud-din
Reactions
Sithandile Mthembu
Remaking II
Ovayo Makapela
Spilling Youth
Tshiamo Williams
Teach a Man to Fish
Linde Kriel
Threads of Insight
Michelle Neo Sennelo
Uniqueness in the Complex
Senzo Jabulai Mazibuko
Who's going to tell Eve?
Linde Kriel
Reduction linocut
a lens in landscape
Tumelo Brian Mpungose
Access Denied
Lesego Sedio
Careful consideration of conscious control
Helen Stewardson
Currents of Change
Abongwe Samkelo Mdwaba
Dolos and Apate
Alex Mahlangu
Isn't that Queer?
Linde Kriel
Messenger
Chiara Andriana Gagiano
The Fortune
Clarissa Venter
Umnotho kaZulu
Sithandile Mthembu
Intaglio
Copper etching
![[rest]room by Linde Kriel, Copper etch and embossing on Fabriano, 2022](/__l5e/assets-v1/b2013864-4b5b-4b7d-b292-119ee5949caa/MK-040_linde-kriel_rest-room.jpg)
[rest]room
Linde Kriel
Agoraphobia
Lonwabo Tyutyu
an apple by any other name
Beate Maria Jordaan
Babsickle
Charlie de Bruto
Bad Boys
Joshua Maharaj
Club Rules
Sithandile Mthembu
Echo
Lloyd Flanegan
Emancipating
Liz Vorster
Fault Lines
Joshua Maharaj
Fooling Babies (VO)
Siobhan Swart
Foreshadow II
Siobhan Swart
Free Range Classifieds
Joshua Maharaj
Grin and Bear it
Holly Adams
Is nothing sacred anymore?
Cailyn Nuttall
mooi-mooi
Charlie de Bruto
Move the border around me
Sebotse Selamulela
Pls don't touch
Lesego Sedio
Reconstruct
Mpendulo Simamane
Vicious Cycle
Nthabiseng Seturumane
Wailing Ship
Joshua Maharaj
Drypoint
Aluminium etching
Mezzotint
Lithography
Silkscreen
Anxiety
Mikayla Swartz
Are they watching
Kaitlyn Pay
Ausi-Mantate
Tshegofatso Papo
Brushes and Paints
Lebohang Lengobala
Commodity of Care
Abongwe Samkelo Mdwaba
Day Night
Ovayo Makapela
eSiyazama
Ilitha Cebisa Taliwe
Fear
Lonwabo Tyutyu
Gramophone
Paigen Kotze
Has it already been five hours?
Cailyn Nuttall
Home Roots
Mpho Mabe
InBetwixt
Liz Vorster
Inside Out
Clint Fortunato Felton
It's just nature
Nthabiseng Seturumane
Muscle Memory
Cailyn Nuttall
Pompidou
Beate Maria Jordaan
Sanctuary
Abongwe Samkelo Mdwaba
The two opposite world
Lonwabo Tyutyu
Umsamo
Sibenoxolo Foji
Monotype
Gel plate monotype
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
- Abongwe Samkelo Mdwaba
- Alex Mahlangu
- Beate Maria Jordaan
- Cailyn Nuttall
- Charlie de Bruto
- Chiara Andriana Gagiano
- Clarissa Venter
- Clint Fortunato Felton
- Helen Stewardson
- Holly Adams
- Ilitha Cebisa Taliwe
- Iqra Ud-din
- Joshua Maharaj
- Kaitlyn Pay
- Lebohang Lengobala
- Lesego Sedio
- Linde Kriel
- Liz Vorster
- Lizka Fouche
- Lloyd Flanegan
- Lonwabo Tyutyu
- Luca Geldenhuys
- Michelle Neo Sennelo
- Mihlali Jiya
- Mikayla Swartz
- Mpendulo Simamane
- Mpho Mabe
- Nthabiseng Seturumane
- Ovayo Makapela
- Paigen Kotze
- Sebotse Selamulela
- Senzo Jabulai Mazibuko
- Sethu Menye
- Shalom Chimuanya Anizoba
- Sibenoxolo Foji
- Siobhan Swart
- Siphiwe Khumalo
- Sithandile Mthembu
- Tinyiko Girly Sekobi
- Tshegofatso Papo
- Tshiamo Williams
- Tumelo Brian Mpungose
- Zita Christine Oranje
VISIT
99 Rivier Street, Sunnyside, Pretoria
- Monday to Thursday
- 09:00 to 17:30
- Friday and Saturday
- 09:00 to 12:00
- Sunday
- Closed
THE CATALOGUE
Press-quality edition, without prices · PDF · 125.6 MB
WITH THANKS
Thank you to Hugo De Groot and the Alliance Française Pretoria for hosting Makwande l'Abondance and supporting South African student printmaking.
UPCOMING
Selected works from Makwande l'Abondance, extended display at the Alliance Française, Pretoria, early 2027.