Olufunke Adepuji
One of Africa’s most renowned and best-selling artists, Professor El Anatsui has endorsed the 11-year old Life In My City Art Festival, called LIMCAF.
This year, the Ghanaian-born emeritus professor of art at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, who has just been announced as the Sculptor Laureate by the Japan Art Association, has undertaken to sponsor all the four House Prize Winners to the next edition of the Dakar Art Biennale, a. k. a. Dak‘Art. This is in addition to a cash donation he made last year to cover some of the LIMACF Prizes.
In another development, well-known former journalist and media proprietor Senator Chris Anyanwu had on Saturday, September 30 opened the Lagos Zone Exhibition of the festival at the recently-opened Thought Pyramid Art Centre, in Ikoyi, Lagos.
The Lagos exhibition which is one of the forerunner exhibitions that serve as selection platforms for young artists whose works will qualify for the Grand Finale Exhibition at the end of October, attracted many prominent artists and enthusiasts including Kolade Oshinonowo, Nkechi Nwosu-Igbo and Olumide Oresegun. Also at the venue were Gboyega Ademola and the Corporate Affairs Director of Airtel Nigeria, Emeka Opara.
Opening the Lagos Exhibition Senator Anyanwu remarked that “artists are the windows and the witnesses of our society and its fragility,†adding that “with the penetration of our part of the world by digital media, it is now easy to showcase and market art globally thereby making the art scene more exciting where artists no longer have to go begging from door to door to sell their worksâ€.
sign1The Senator, who described herself as an art activist who buys art relating to women’s needs, therefore commended LIMCAF for it effort to position art for social development as a strong aspect of the search for the positive transformation of our society.
Other precursor zonal exhibitions this year were held in Abuja, Ibadan, Auchi, Uyo and Enugu.
