PRESS KIT
Writing about Makwande? Everything you need is here. For interviews or images of specific artworks, contact us.
AT A GLANCE
- Name
- Makwande Art Prints
- What it is
- A student-owned print enterprise that helps fine art students exhibit and sell the hand-printed work they make during their studies
- Slogan
- Learn it. Print it. Sell it.
- The name
- Makwande is isiXhosa for “let them grow” or “may they multiply”
- Started
- Informally in 2022, established in 2023, at the University of the Free State
- Founders
- Linde Kriel (owner and co-founder) and Sebotse Selamulela (co-founder)
- Based in
- Johannesburg and Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
- Works with
- Fine art students and recent graduates from South African universities
- Mediums
- 13 printmaking techniques, from woodblock and linocut to etching, lithography, silkscreen and cyanotype
- Latest exhibition
- Makwande l'Abondance, Alliance Française Pretoria, 8 October to 6 November 2026
- Website
- makwandeartprints.com
- @makwande_art_prints
- Press contact
- info.makwandeartprints@gmail.com
BOILERPLATE
Boilerplate (short, 40 words)
Makwande Art Prints is a South African student-owned print enterprise that helps fine art students exhibit and sell the hand-printed work they make during their studies. Every print is made by a student, and every sale benefits that student directly.
Boilerplate (long, 100 words)
Makwande Art Prints is a South African student-owned print enterprise that helps fine art students exhibit and sell the hand-printed work they make during their studies. Started at the University of the Free State by Linde Kriel and Sebotse Selamulela, it curates by the quality of the work rather than reputation, and teaches students the professional side of being an artist: contracts, pricing, preparing work and marketing. Its slogan, “Learn it. Print it. Sell it.”, sums up the model. Makwande has grown from a weekly Saturday market stall into an annual exhibition at the Alliance Française in Pretoria.
MAKWANDE L'ABONDANCE
- Venue
- Alliance Française Cultural Centre, 99 Rivier Street, Sunnyside, Pretoria
- Dates
- 8 October to 6 November 2026 (opening 8 October 2026)
- Curator
- Linde Kriel
- Scale
- 94 prints by 42 student artists, selected from about 186 submitted prints
- Techniques
- 13 printmaking techniques
- Institutions
- University of the Free State, University of Johannesburg, University of Pretoria, Tshwane University of Technology, Central University of Technology
- Next
- Extended display of selected works, January to March 2027 (dates to be confirmed)
Press release
Student printmakers take centre stage at the Alliance Française in Pretoria
Pretoria, October 2026. Makwande Art Prints, a South African student-owned print enterprise, presents Makwande l'Abondance, its largest exhibition to date, at the Alliance Française Cultural Centre in Pretoria from 8 October to 6 November 2026.
Selected from about 186 prints submitted through a national open call, the exhibition brings together 94 hand-pulled prints by 42 fine art students and recent graduates from the University of the Free State, the University of Johannesburg, the University of Pretoria, the Tshwane University of Technology and the Central University of Technology. The works span 13 printmaking techniques, from woodblock and reduction linocut to copper etching, mezzotint, stone lithography, silkscreen, gel plate monotype and cyanotype.
The title pairs isiXhosa and French. Makwande means “let them grow” or “may they multiply”, and l'Abondance means “abundance”: together, “let them grow in abundance”. The isiXhosa carries the founding intention of the business, while the French nods to the host venue.
Curator Linde Kriel says the exhibition is about recognising students as artists in their own right: “It is not about presenting student artists as future artists. It is about recognising them as artists now.”
All works are for sale, and every sale benefits the student artist directly. Opening-week sales exceeded those of previous years, and the exhibition includes artists showing their work for the first time. The Alliance Française has agreed to host a standing yearly Makwande exhibition.
Visit: Alliance Française Cultural Centre, 99 Rivier Street, Sunnyside, Pretoria. Monday to Thursday 09:00 to 17:30, Friday and Saturday 09:00 to 12:00, closed on Sundays.
Media enquiries: info.makwandeartprints@gmail.com
ENDS
IMAGES
High-resolution images are available in the press kit image folder. Please use the caption and credit given below.
USING ARTWORK IMAGES
Copyright in every artwork stays with the artist. Images of individual artworks may be used for editorial coverage of Makwande only, uncropped and unaltered, with the credit: “[Title] by [Artist], [medium], [year]. Courtesy of the artist and Makwande Art Prints.” For other uses, or for images of specific works, please contact us.
MAKWANDE ART PRINTS
Makwande Art Prints is a student-owned print enterprise that helps fine art students exhibit and sell the hand-printed work they make during their studies.
Learn it. Print it. Sell it.
LOGO FILES
COLOUR PALETTE
Indigo
#204563
Roller red
#B92316
Marigold
#E8A33D
Paper cream
#F4EDE1
Ink black
#26221F
White
#FFFFFF
PRESS CONTACT
info.makwandeartprints@gmail.com
Contact for press