With Obi Asika chairing the gala and Paul Usoro lending his presence to the event, LIMCAF’s nineteenth version is as a lot a celebration of younger artists as a reminder of the company help the pageant has struggled to safe regardless of almost 20 years of nurturing rising abilities. Okechukwu Uwaezuoke experiences
Finally, the Life in My City Art Festival – merely LIMCAF to its rising devotees and habitués – stomps into its much-anticipated grand finale exhibition week in Enugu in an much more upbeat temper. The pageant, held at the International Conference Centre of the Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu, culminates in a gala and awards evening on Saturday, October 31, bringing its nineteenth version, themed Open Letter, to a detailed.
Besides its customary enterprise of bringing a recent crop of rising artists into the highlight, the pageant will, this yr, additionally characteristic two outstanding figures from Nigeria’s inventive and company worlds, lending their weight to the proceedings.
As is perhaps anticipated, the hallmark of the occasion is the recognition of excellent artists. But the presence of Obi Asika, director-general of the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), and Paul Usoro, SAN, a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), provides the event added weight.
Asika, a grandee of Nigeria’s inventive trade, will chair the gala and awards evening. He has the trade connections and expertise having constructed a profession in music and associated industries in addition to his hyperlinks to the UK, to allow him steer the occasion to successful. His current perch at the helms of the NCAC ought to stand him in good stead to understand what LIMCAF has been doing from 2007 to take the visible arts out of the galleries and cultural establishments of the metropolitan areas.
Usoro represents a unique part of the Establishment. He is a former president of the NBA, and a communications lawyer, having beforehand chaired Access Bank. He heads Paul Usoro & Co. Law agency in Victoria Island, Lagos. “LIMCAF provides a platform for emerging artists to showcase their work, engage with established practitioners and connect with wider audiences,” Usoro mentioned. “The participation of distinguished personalities further enriches the festival and reinforces the importance of sustained support for the visual arts in Nigeria.”
Meanwhile, Adaora Oji-Ngwu, the govt director of the Life In My City Art Foundation, known as the grand finale the finish outcome of months of actions throughout the nation, in addition to the efforts of the artists, companions, and supporters who saved the pageant going.
“The grand finale celebrates the artistic achievements of the participants. It provides us the opportunity to strengthen our relationships and conversations with colleagues in Nigeria for the advancement of the visual arts,” she mentioned.
Among different occasions, there might be artwork and craft exhibitions, artist excursions of Enugu, a celebration, Prof. Jacob Onoja’s lecture, a trend present, a movie screening, and spoken phrase performances, and a tribute to Obiora Udechukwu, artist and co-founder of AKA Circle of Artists, along with the nationwide exhibition that formally opens on Wednesday, October 28.
Events related to AKA will characteristic the publication, Kindred Spirits: The AKA Circle of Exhibiting Artists, by Iheanyi Onwuegbucha. A historic dialogue on artist-led initiatives in Eastern Nigeria will accompany the publication. The dialogue will unravel artists’ frustrations with exhibition alternatives and taking the initiative to organise exhibitions. This is historical past that youthful artists ought to know.
Thus, Udechukwu and the AKA Circle carry an earlier chapter of Eastern Nigeria’s artwork historical past to LIMCAF. Though the pageant is targeted on rising artists, its members should recognise different chapters of historical past as properly.
Currently in its nineteenth yr, LIMCAF deserves recognition as Nigeria’s longest working artwork pageant. The undeniable fact that it has endured as the solely current artwork pageant that’s youth-focused and rising over the years ought to have earned it extra important and sustained company sponsorship.
Now, it has matured and attracted the curiosity of outstanding personalities in the area of visible arts and past, together with Bruce Onobrakpeya, El Anatsui, Obiora Udechukwu, the late Ola Oloidi, the late Okwui Enwezor, the late Olabisi Silva and Kolade Oshinowo. Anatsui, for one, funds the annual all-expenses-paid two week journeys of the pageant’s high six winners to the Dak’Art, the Dakar Art Biennale. Others who’ve taken curiosity in LIMCAF embody Jerry Buhari, curator of this yr’s grand finale exhibition, Kunle Filani, Sani Mu’azu, Peju Layiwola, Joe Musa, Frank Ugiomoh, Sam Ovraiti, Blaise Gundu Gbaden, Chijioke Onuora, the late Nsikak Essien and Tonie Okpe, in addition to a number of worldwide consultants.
Beyond the exhibitions and competitions which LIMCAF is well-known for, the basis has branched out to internet hosting inventive workshops for youngsters and youth residing with disabilities.
The Elder Ok.U. Kalu Grand Prize for Young Artist of the Year, the competitors’s highest recognition, is valued at roughly $2,000. Other class prizes embody the N1 million Capt. Everest Odengene Nnaji Prize for Painting, and the ₦500,000 Tayo Adenaike Prize for Watercolour.
Indeed, the pageant has grown by leaps and bounds since its inception in 2007 by the founder of Rocana Nigeria Limited, Robert Orji. Much of its endurance has been because of the goodwill of its supporters starting from the Alliance Française community to the French Embassy, different company organisations, artwork foundations and people. Some of these are Clam Lab, Paris, Honeywell Group, FBN Holdings, the Pan African Circle of Artists, the Enugu State Council for Arts and Culture, the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos, and Thought Pyramid Art Centre, Abuja. Special donations have been made by the Justice Anthony Aniagolu Family, Vin Martin Ilo, Mfon Usoro, the Pius Okigbo Family, Art Is Everywhere, and Professor El Anatsui, and Engr. Gesi Asamaowei amongst others.
The rising quantity of members from throughout Nigeria, and the persevering with success of previous members present an concept of the pageant’s progress. The subsequent LIMCAF is its twentieth, and the basis might be celebrating its fifteenth anniversary.
