2026 “Colourful World” China-Africa Youth Painting Invitational Exhibition A Selection of Award-Winning Works from Africa (I)

Foreword

 

The year 2026 was designated as the China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges at the 2024 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). China and Africa have agreed to enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and strive together for more fruitful outcomes under the Global Civilization Initiative. As President Xi Jinping pointed out, there will be no global modernization without the modernization of China and Africa. The ten partnership actions for China and Africa to jointly advance modernization were important outcomes of the 2024 FOCAC Beijing Summit.

 

To implement the outcomes of the FOCAC Beijing Summit, boost traditional friendship between Chinese and African youths, and work together on the shared path toward modernization, the Beijing People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (BPAFFC), together with the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League of China, the Information Office of the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, and the Beijing Federation of Literary & Art Circles, hosted the 2026 “Colourful World” China-Africa Youth Painting Invitational Exhibition and “Youth Will” Beijing Youth Art Biennale at the China Millennium Monument. Guided by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), the exhibition was co-organized by the Beijing Youth Art Development Promotion Association and Beijing Gehua Cultural Development Group Co., Ltd., with strong support from the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, Chinese Headline New Media, the Center for Cultural Communication of China International Communications Group, and foreign affairs offices of various districts in Beijing.

 

Since the call for entries was launched in May 2026, the exhibition had welcomed active participation from young artists across China and Africa, and over 3,300 entries had been received from 32 countries. Themed “Building the Dream of China-Africa Modernization Together,” the exhibition featured nearly 1,200 excellent works in two zones: “Colourful World” China-Africa Youth Painting Invitational Exhibition and “Youth Will” Beijing Youth Art Biennale. The works are centered on themes of China-Africa friendship, mutual learning among civilizations, technological innovation, and youthful aspirations. They cast a retrospective gaze on millennia of China-Africa ties, and vividly depict the joint endeavors toward a shared future. They are imbued with the unbridled imagination of children, and also demonstrate the youth’s deep thinking and reflections on tradition and technology, the rural and the urban, as well as the past and the present. In the Children’s and Junior categories, vibrant colors in watercolor, oil painting, crayon, and ink wash vividly capture their innocent wonder, imagination, and vision of the future. In the Youth category, young artists articulate their artistic concepts and reflections on reality through diverse media like traditional Chinese painting, oil painting, printmaking, sculpture, and digital art, demonstrating their sense of responsibility and youthful dreams.

 

These artistic practices spanning different nations, age groups, and media converge to form a unique visual spectrum of the exhibition. It serves as a testament of friendship inscribed by Chinese and African youths with their brushes, and showcases the ecosystem of Chinese contemporary youth art. It stands both as an artistic tribute to the fruitful outcomes of China-Africa cooperation and as a youthful response to the shared vision of “Building the Dream of China-Africa Modernization Together.”

 

Title of Work: Shared Vision, Shared Future

Artist: Bhenisha Heeramun

Country of Origin: Republic of Mauritius

Award: First Prize (Children’s Category)

 

Title of Work: Digital Bridge

Artist: Lucas Augustin

Country of Origin: Republic of Mauritius

Award: First Prize (Children’s Category)

 

Title of Work: China and Africa Jointly Build a Brighter Future

Artist: Pinxuan Li

Country of Origin: Republic of South Africa

Award: First Prize (Children’s Category)

 

Title of Work: Gael Philippe

Artist: Two Civilizations, A Shared Future

Country of Origin: United Republic of Tanzania

Award: First Prize (Children’s Category)

 

Title of Work: China Youth Art Exhibition

Artist: Loujain Mohammed Ahmed

Country of Origin: Arab Republic of Egypt

Award: First Prize (Junior Category)

 

Title of Work: China-Africa Youth Art Exhibition

Artist: Malk Wael Younes

Country of Origin: Arab Republic of Egypt

Award: First Prize (Junior Category)

 

Title of Work: Karaoke on the Moon

Artist: Matrice Ali Mohamed

Country of Origin: Republic of Djibouti

Award: First Prize (Junior Category)

 

Title of Work: One of the Best Interior Architects in Africa

Artist: Hope Mafiko

Country of Origin: Republic of Zimbabwe

Award: First Prize (Junior Category)

Title of Work: The Enchanted Universe

Artist: Noor-UL-Qamar Shahzad

Country of Origin: Republic of Zimbabwe

Award: First Prize (Junior Category)

 

Title of Work: Technology Powers the Future

Artist: Ramiraho Ramanirake Noelly

Country of Origin: Republic of Madagascar

Award: First Prize (Junior Category)

Title of Work: Threads of Tomorrow

Artist: Lovena Loriena Gopaullol

Country of Origin: Republic of Mauritius

Award: First Prize (Junior Category)

 

Title of Work: My Space Dream

Artist: Angela Marzocchi

Country of Origin: Republic of Seychelles

Award: First Prize (Junior Category)

 

Title of Work: Sea of Stars

Artist: Elisha Barbe

Country of Origin: Republic of Seychelles

Award: First Prize (Junior Category)

 

Title of Work: Anonymous

Artist: Ernest Leonard Michael

Country of Origin: United Republic of Tanzania

Award: First Prize (Junior Category)

Title of Work: Sustaining the Growth of China-Africa Relations

Artist: Ndergo Soroya  

Country of Origin: Central African Republic

Award: First Prize (Junior Category)

 

Title of Work: A Scene at the Market

Artist: Avokpo Michel Ange

Country of Origin: Republic of Benin

Award: First Prize (Youth Category)

 

Title of Work: Hajitek Majitek in Space

Artist: Hajar Khammash

Country of Origin: People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria

Award: First Prize (Junior Category)

 

Title of Work: Setting Sail for the Universe

Artist: Tokouete Segla Simon

Country of Origin: Republic of Benin

Award: First Prize (Youth Category)

 

Title of Work: Village in Africa

Artist: Roy Nyrban

Country of Origin: Republic of Zimbabwe

Award: First Prize (Youth Category)

 

Title of Work: Love of Nature: A Gentle Encounter

Artist: Asa King Zvihar

Country of Origin: Republic of Zimbabwe

Award: First Prize (Youth Category)

 

Title of Work: Eyes of Africa

Artist: Keith Zenda

Country of Origin: Republic of Zimbabwe

Award: First Prize (Youth Category)

 

Title of Work: Love of Nature: A Gentle Encounter

Artist: Asa King Zvihar

Country of Origin: Republic of Zimbabwe

Award: First Prize (Youth Category)

Title of Work: Childhood in the Wind

Artist: W. Meyer

Country of Origin: Republic of Zimbabwe

Award: First Prize (Youth Category)

 

Title of Work: Anonymous

Artist: Esther Bodzo

Country of Origin: Republic of Zimbabwe

Award: First Prize (Youth Category)

 

Title of Work: Seeds of Hope

Artist: Tanzel Moatasim Mohammed Dawoud

Country of Origin: Republic of Sudan

Award: First Prize (Youth Category)

 

Title of Work: Celebrating Chinese and African Traditions: Heart to Heart

Artist: Zuo Xiumei

Country of Origin: Republic of South Africa

Award: First Prize (Youth Category)

 

Title of Work: Untitled

Artist: Selected and Submitted by the Sino Africa Hub

Country of Origin: Republic of Zimbabwe

Award: First Prize (Youth Category)