The 2026 Vanguard artists are creating original, boundary-pushing work and gaining momentum through solo shows, museum exhibitions, and other art world accolades. Their art - from video games that force us to confront our biases, to paintings that upend power dynamics - challenges and expands our perception of the present moment.

Each year there is a common theme linking all the chosen talents, with this year’s being “Reimagining Reality”. True to this idea, Mashilo’s practice focuses on spiritual and ancestral world-building, and reimagining the world around her, which she says “can be healing”. Over her lifetime, she has gotten “really good at storytelling as a way to survive” she explains. This was a response to the “different worlds” which she has, at different points of her life, called home, from Limpopo where she was born, to Pretoria, Johannesburg, and, currently, Cape Town. In her paintings, she depicts rituals that call upon earth and spirit, memories that evoke dreams, and otherworldly places.

“It is deeply affirming to be recognised on a global scale in a time when the world feels uncertain”, says Mashilo. "I couldn't be more honoured to have this opportunity to platform my practice, and to stand proudly and loudly as a representative for African artists and voices in general", she continues.

The following nine artists are named alongside Mashilo: Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Agrade Camíz, Sayan Chanda, Paul Hutchinson, Heidi Lau, Élise Peroi, Geoffroy Pithon, Emil Sands and Noelia Towers.

Click here to read Mashilo's Artsy Vanguard interview by writer and critic Keely Shinners.