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| Prof Frank Ugiomoh, Chair, LIMCAF 2018. |
A jury chaired by Prof Frank Ugiomoh has been announced for Life In My City Art Festival (LIMCAF) 2018. Held yearly, the current edition of LIMCAF, which has Twilight as its theme, traditionally, include zonal selections from across Nigeria.
With Chike Obeagu as the curator for 2018 edition, other members of the jury, according to a statement by the Organising Committee,
include Ayo Aina, Blaide Gundu Gbaden, Ngozi Omeje-Ezema, Odun Orimolade, Fide Udenta and Nicolas Michelland.
Dr Ayo Adewunmi, Art Director at LIMCAF, explained that "in view of the growing profile of the Festival and the continued impressive interest by young artists from all over Nigeria, the Committee has gone to great lengths, as always, to appoint a jury made up of highly respected academics and reputable studio practitioners".
The zonal contests take off from Auchi-Benin Zone on September 6, at Auchi Polytechnic. Other zones include Uyo-Calabar, September 13, at National Gallery of Art (NGA), Uyo; Port Harcourt, September 22, Alliance Francaise; Enugu, October 4, Alliance Francaise; Abuja, September 25, Thought Pyramid Art Centre, Wuse II; Ibadan, September 29, Alliance Francaise; and Lagos, October 1, at Thought Pyramid Art Centre, Ikoyi.
Ugiomoh is Professor of Art History and Theory at the Department of Fine Art and Design, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. His research and publications focus on historiography and methods in African art history as well as on criticism of modern Nigerian art. He is widely published in Nigeria and abroad. In 2010 he was curator of 'Niger Delta Phototales' in Port Harcourt Nigeria. He was a research scholar at the Rock Art Research Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, SA in 2006. He is the editor of TOJA: Journal of African art and Managing Editor, ASUU Journal of Humanities. He is on the consulting board of Critical Interventions: Journal of Contemporary African Art and Visual Culture and NKA: Journal of Contemporary African Art.
Currently he is engaged in a collaborative research on Fashion and Styles in African Cities with the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany.
Aina is an acclaimed Nigerian painter, muralist and multimedia artist. He studied painting at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, graduating as the best student and winning the Nigerian Art Council Award in 1990, and MFA in 1996. For close to three decades, he has practised full-time, and participated in several exhibitions in Nigeria, UK, Italy and Dubai, as well as at the Dak'art Biennale.
Aina is famous for his use of uncommon exploratory platforms in dealing with contemporary political, social and environmental issues. His works can be found in public buildings in Nigeria. He has been mentioned in important books and journals, including Seven Stories About Modern Art in Africa, Whitechapel, London and New York based art editorial, Art Forum. He is the founder and artistic director of Masterpiece Artstec, a public art project studio based in Kaduna. He is also a principal partner at Julicom Group Artists.
Gbaden received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (1993); Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (1999); and a PhD degree in Painting, as one of the pioneer set of students, from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (2014). Gbaden taught Painting and Drawing at the University of Maiduguri for over a decade before transferring his services to newly established Federal University, Lafia, where he now teaches Painting, Drawing, and Art Theory courses. He has been the substantive Head of the Department of Visual and Creative Arts since December 2016. He is the pioneer editor of Resonance Journal of Contemporary Arts Scholarship domiciled in the Department of Visual and Creative Arts, Federal University Lafia.
Gbaden considers himself a postmodernist painter who explores social expectations in human society. He has exhibited his paintings, drawings and prints locally and internationally. Being an academic he has published his research findings in several peer-reviewed journals. Several of his paintings, drawings and prints are in public and private collections in Nigeria, Ghana, Australia, Germany, USA, Belgium, Switzerland, South Africa and South Korea. He is married with four children and also writes and recites poetry.
Omeje-Ezema is a former LIMCAF overall prize winner, and make the link between an older generation and the growing distinguished alumni of LIMCAF prize winners. She graduated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 2005, Department of Fine and Applied Arts. She also obtained her MFA where she was retained as a lecturer to teach Ceramics since May, 2009. As an MFA student, she participated in a two-week international workshop (Aftershave International Workshop, under the umbrella of Triangle Art Trust) in Jos, Nigeria.
Since then she has participated in several local and international workshops and exhibitions and was a resident artist in Sevshoon Art Centre, Seattle, USA, 2010 where she created the ‘Think Tea, Think cup’ art work as a permanent installation in the centre. Her works are configured with globular clay units, clay rings, strings and savaged flip flops from her environment, using them to accentuate her place in her immediate socio-cultural context.
Currently, Omeje-Ezema is selected for the Saatchi START Art Fair 2018 and also involved in the ongoing 60th Faenza Biennale Prize in Italy, 2018. Her Ceramic installation ‘Imagine Jonah II’ was part of the First International Biennale in Central China and ‘In My Garden there are Many Colours II’ –First West African Art Fair (ART X), Lagos, 2016 respectively. She also participated in “Le Pinceau De L’Integration” in Senegal, during the Dakar Biennale, 2016.
Orimolade is a multimedia artist, academic and writer that engages her practice in a multifaceted perspective of trans-disciplinary approaches, research and collaborations. Her work spans a plethora of interests linked by space, the intangible, orientation and behavioural tendencies.
A graduate of Yaba College of Technology and the University of South Africa Pretoria, Orimolade has participated in several exhibitions locally and internationally, having been in artist residencies such as Bern Performance Art Festival, Switzerland, Live Art DK Copenhagen and Lilith Performance Studio Residency Malmo, Sweden among others.
She is a recipient of the Society of Nigerian Artist Distinguished Artist Award in 2014. She is also a member and representative of Afiriperforma Nigeria, consistently contributing to different art projects and creative workshops. She creates mentorship avenues for young artists assisting in the exploration and research for creative practice amongst other community projects. She is currently Sub-Dean of the School of Art, Design and Printing, Yabatech. Orimolade lives and works in Lagos, lecturing at her Alma Mater.
Udenta attended IMT Enugu, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka and University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He studied Fine Art with bias in Painting and Art History. He taught at FCE Eha Amufu before joining IMT Enugu where he is currently a chief lecturer and Director of Academic Planning. Udenta is a widely travelled academic participating in several international conferences and workshops as well as exhibitions on Art and related subjects. He is a prolific painter whose works can be found in selected homes and offices within and outside Nigeria. He is member of SNA and many professional bodies.
Michelland is the current Director of Alliance Française Ibadan. The French cultural institution, which is part of an international network of 802 centres in the world, aims at promoting art and culture as well as teaching the French language to different publics and interested persons.
As the then Deputy Director in Enugu Michelland was one of the initiators of the Life in My City Art Festival, helping to give it form and impetus from the French side along with the Founder’s company, Rocana Nigeria Limited and the Pan-African Circle of Artists.
His work also focuses greatly on the spread of French language in Nigeria as he doubles with the position of Director CFTD (Centre for French training and documentation), therefore spreading modern methodologies of teaching in the seven Nigerian western states he covers in his duty.
Obiagu (LIMCAF Curator 2018) is a multi-talented artist who finds creative expression through painting, photography, installation art, and poetry. He exhibited great interest in art during the early stages of his life, and had his first formal best student in art award while in high school.
Obeagu later trained at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees in 1998 and 2003 graduating with magna and summa cum laude respectively. He has won several awards including 1st prize in the National Arts Competition in Nigeria (2011), United Nations Award for partnership in combating TIP (Trafficking in Persons) and SOM (Smuggling of Migrants), W.K Kellogg Foundation/ Ford Foundation (2007), Prince Clause Fund for Culture and Development (2008) Engineer Yemisy Shyllon Art Prize (2007), among others.
He has participated in over 60 reputable exhibitions including: Inventory: New Works and Conversations Around African Art, Hood Museum of art, USA, Hanover (2016), Anyafulugo, In honour of El Anatsui and Obiora Udechukwu, Nsukka, (2015), Guess who is coming to dinner? Richard Taittinger Gallery New York, (2015), 56th International Art Exhibition—la Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy, (2015) Dakar Biennale, Senegal, (2014), Nigeria Now, Emerging Trends of Contemporary Art in Nigeria, Miami, Florida, USA, (2012), Celebrating Greatness, Nigeria 50th Independence Exhibition, Abuja, Nigeria, (2010), Experimental Frontiers, Cape Town, South Africa, (2008), One minute Video Exhibition, Beijing, China, Visual Art Festival, Atlanta, USA, (2007), Bag Factory, Johannesburg, South Africa (2007), Changing Faces of Africa, Liverpool, London, (2006, Best of Nigeria Expo, Dockland, London,(2006), Nigeria Art Exhibition, Dakar, Senegal, (2006), Unclaimed Luggage, Madrid, Spain, (2005). He has taken part in various residencies and workshops in Nigeria and other parts of the world.
Obeagu is a co-founder and creative director of FAbA (For Artists by Artists) studio. He is an instructor with Art is Everywhere - a waste to art project, and one of the principal curators and exhibition co-ordinator of FWC CREO art exhibition since 2015. Chike has been involved in several cultural initiatives. He currently teaches painting, graphics, drawing and photography at the Department of Visual and Creative Arts, Federal University Lafia. He is also a Ph.D candidate at the Department of Fine Arts, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.
Obeagu’s works can be found in public and private art collections in Nigeria and abroad.
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