By Ezike Onyeka
The Access ART X Prize awards, a platform created to bolster the careers of emerging African artist, was held Friday 25 November 2022 at the Access Bank Tower, Victoria Island Lagos.
The ART X Prize is sponsored by Access Corporation, the parent company of Access bank with the intention of setting up young African artist at the highest levels of success to tell the African story on the global stage.
According to the organizers, the vision was to inspire emerging African artist after identifying the absence of infrastructure that exists for contemporary art within the country. For its 2022/2023 edition, the prize platform has evolved to include an additional award, now open to emerging artists from the rest of Africa and it’s Diaspora, in a bid to buttress sustainable careers for a wider range of artist.
According to the founder and CEO, ART X Collections, Tokini Peterside-Schwebig, “ART X Prize awards two exceptional emerging artist with funding, tailored mentoring support and opportunities for cultural exchange, enabling them to complete compelling, ambitious projects that will further their careers and challenge the expectations of audiences across the world.
“The Nigerian winners will undergo a residency at Yinka Shonibare’s G. A. S foundation in Lagos. Both artists will be granted exhibitions at the ART X Lagos fair next year and a support grant of $10,000 towards the exhibition.”
This year’s winners are Dafe Oboro (Nigeria Film maker). His predominant work centers on Photography and film. Dafe uses evocative sound and imagery to contemplate questions of masculinity, movement across time and space, and the socio-political state of contemporary Nigeria and greater Africa.
Dafe Oboro, a recipient of the film prize at The Future Awards African, a nominee for Dazed Magazine’s 100 list of people shaping our culture. His film has been screened at various venues and festivals in London.
Belinda Kazeem – Kaminski (Africa/Diaspora educationalist and Photographer) winner, Africa Diaspora, is a Vienna-based writer, artist and researcher whose works manifest through variety of media. Rooted in black feminist theory, her solo and group exhibitions include Seven Scenes, Camera Austria Graz.
ART X is Africa’s leading cultural management company, creating platforms and experiences that celebrate and amplify the breadth of African’s creative expression. Working closely with exceptional creative and cultural entrepreneurs.
The company seeks to develop energized, empowered and evolving identities for Africa through culture. The company’s flagship includes ART X Lagos, the leading international art fair in West Africa, the ART X Prize, an annual award for emerging artists in African and the Diaspora, and ART X LIVE for Africa’s fastest rising musicians and visual artists.
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