Lady Skollie

Lady Skollie, real name Laura Windvogel, has won the prestigious FNB Art Prize, which includes an international artist’s residency and a cash prize. Image: okayafrica.com

‘My existence has been validated’: Lady Skollie wins 2020 FNB Art Prize

Powerhouse artist Lady Skollie has won the 2020 FNB Art Prize, one of the most significant art accolades on the African continent.

Lady Skollie

Lady Skollie, real name Laura Windvogel, has won the prestigious FNB Art Prize, which includes an international artist’s residency and a cash prize. Image: okayafrica.com

Lady Skollie, aka Laura Windvogel, joins a prestigious list of winners who have claimed the award — which includes an international residency and a R100,000 cash prize — since the launch of the competition in 2011. 

Lady Skollie was born in Cape Town and attended the University of Cape Town, where she graduated with a degree in History of Art and Dutch Literature in 2009.

Defying taboos in various mediums

She uses a variety of mediums, ranging from crayon and ink to watercolour, and focuses on defying taboos in her works such as issues of abuse, violence, the duality of human connection, and the joy and darkness of the erotic. 

Locally and internationally renowned

Lady Skollie is no stranger to the art world and has exhibited widely across South Africa and on the global stage since 2017. Solo exhibitions include Fire with Fire at the FNB Joburg Art Fair (2017), Mating Dance at the AKAA Art Fair in Paris, France (2017) and Lust Politics at the Tyburn Gallery in London, UK (2017).

Her works have also featured in several group exhibitions, including Old Masters / New Realities: Gerard Sekoto x Lady Skollie at the TMRW Gallery in Johannesburg; Close: Proximity, Intimacy, Tension at the Johannesburg Art Gallery; and This is the Gallery and the Gallery is Many Things X at the Eastside Projects in Birmingham in the UK. 

Lady Skollie contributed artwork for the stage design of a gala performance of The Children’s Monologues at Carnegie Hall in New York in 2017, and has been featured on BBC Africa and CNN International on African Voices.

She has also made the OkayAfrica’s 100 Women list, which honours women across 10 different fields for their achievements and influence.

November new solo exhibition for Lady Skollie

Lady Skollie will hold her second solo exhibition, BOUND, at the Everard Read Gallery in Cape Town on 11 November.

In her most recent exhibition, the artist focuses on women in captivity with direct references to women in shackles, chains, manacles and collars, women in isolation, and darkness and light. 

The FNB Art Prize

Lady Skollie is the 10th FNB Art Prize winner of the coveted visual art prize and says she feels as if her existence has been validated by winning the award. 

“As someone who never fit in, someone who dropped out of art school, someone who only got South African representation at the age of 31, winning a local art prize makes me feel like my existence in it is validated.” 

Bonga Sebesho, head of FNB Sponsorships, congratulated Lady Skollie, saying her rendition of art has challenged society’s norms to evolve and questions the many social challenges that we face. 

“Art is an evolving medium and through the years the FNB Art Joburg platform has ensured that we continue to support and recognise talent across all art mediums,” Sebesho said.