After a successful completion of the secondstage of 2023 Life In My City Art Festival (LIMCAF) in all 13 regional centres across Nigeria, including Abeokuta, Abuja, Awka, Benin-Auchi, Enugu, Ibadan, Jalingo, Lagos, Ondo, Owerri, Port Harcourt, Uyo and Zaria, the final stage of 2023 events has begun with appointment of a grand finale curator, chairman and members of national jury panel .

Exhibitions began in Ibadan on July 9 and ended with Owerri on August 15, 2023. A total of 576 artworks were on display in the 13 regional centres.

From that number, 111 works have been selected to feature at the grand finale exhibition between October 21 and 28, 2023, in Enugu.

These shows in five weeks featured 567 works and constitute a new proud high for the festival.
First held in 2007 with a total of 180 entries, all coming to the then only Centre (Enugu), by 2022, total entries received in eight regional centres had come to 275 roughly representing the average totals for the previous 10 years.

The 2023 total of 567 is more than a 100 per cent increase over 2022. Of this number, 130 are females up from 68 in 2022.

It also shows a remarkable increase in the number and success rate of female contestants this year most probably at least due in part to the new special categories of prizes for females.

Of the 130 total female entries this year, 29 females made it into the grand finale exhibition, which is 26.1 per cent, while 25 females or 25 per cent feature in the grand finale in 2022. Of special note are the two first ever entries from young artists living with challenge, for whom we have now created a special category prize beginning from this year.

This year, the first professionally trained Nigerian female curator, Amarachi Okafor, will join the long list of art scholars and professionals who help in various capacities to support the objectives of LIMCAF.

The first female curator was Ms Sieglinde Oehler, a German national, then working in Enugu with the German Leprosy and Tuberculosis Relief Initiative (LTR).

Okafor’s unique art practice is both international and very much rooted in the local.
She works from Orie Studio, an art production and research space she founded, in Abuja.

With a first degre in Painting, 2002; MFA (Sculpture), 2006 (both from University of Nigeria, Nsukka); she went on to earn an MA in Curatorial Practice, 2012 from Falmouth University, Cornwall, UK, in the process she got the art department’s internship scholarship upon graduation.

She was a recipient of the UNESCO Aschberg artists’ award in 2007- leading to a residency at Lademoen Kustnerverksteder (LKV) in Trondheim, Norway, as well the Commonwealth Foundation Commonwealth Connections recipient in 2009.

In 2014, she won the jury prize of the National Art Competition (Nigeria). She has exhibited at Babel Art Space, Norway, Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Wales, Manchester Art Gallery, UK; Jogjarkarta Biennial, Indonesia; and in recent years, she has taken to making public art projects with audiences in galleries and alternative art spaces, a unique endeavour that she refers to as relational public art.

This year’s National Jury Panel is an assembly of art scholars, professionals, and studio practitioners including, two ladies, in various disciplines of visual art.
The panel will be chaired by Ayo Aina, an acclaimed Nigerian painter, muralist, and multimedia artist.

He studied painting at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, graduating as the best student in fine arts, and with the Nigerian Art Council Award in 1990, and MFA in 1996.

For over three decades, he has practiced full-time, and participated in several exhibitions in Nigeria, UK, Italy and Dubai, and also in the Dakar Biennale.
He 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 and corporate institutions in Nigeria and beyond.
He has been mentioned in important books and journals, including Seven Stories About Modern Art in Africa, Whitechapel, London; Paris-based quarterly, Revue Noire; 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 a principal partner at Julicom Group Artists, and a coordinator for the Art-is-Everywhere project. He was chairman, LIMCAF 2011 national jury.

SUKANTHY Visagapperumal-Egharevba obtained her first and second degrees in painting from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a PhD from Delta State University, Abraka.

She is basically a mixed media artist combining traditional iconographic influences from the Tamil Kolam of Sri-Lanka, her native homeland and the rich artistic cultures of the Middle-belt and South East Nigeria, her adopted country by marriage.

Through these influences, her scholarly and professional studio engagements open new vistas to engaging and understanding cultural hybridity and informs an uncommon uniqueness in her teaching approach and studio practice.

Also in the panel is Otunba Oladotun Olatunbosun Alabi. Born in Lagos, his educational career began in Lagos from where he went on to higher studies in Azare, Bauchi State, returning to Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, and the Federal College of Education also in Lagos before proceeding to the University of Winneba, where in addition to the HND and PGD obtained in Nigeria, he earned the B.ED in 2012.

As a student, he was a two-time Academy Press Award winner and also the Solidra Circle Award for painting (2008), Yaba College of Technology Faculty Award 2011, and the Society of Nigerian Artist’s Outstanding Service, among several others.

He has had several solo exhibitions with over 20 joint shows and numerous group exhibitions nationally and internationally, including the Pan African Film and Art Festival in Los Angeles 2013-2015, Morino Valley exhibition 2015, 2016 and the SNA Lagos October Rain exhibitions since inception in 2008.

Etiido Effiong William Inyang, a printmaker and Professor of Design, at the University of Port Harcourt.

His educational journey spans several historic Nigerian university towns such as, Calabar, Zaria, Uyo and Port Harcourt, culminating in degrees including, a Bachelor of Arts in Graphics, an MFA in Graphics, and a PhD in African History.

With a career exceeding two decades, he has made significant contributions to art, academia, and international scholarship.

His work embraces studio practice, critical discourse, lectures, research, and professional development on the nuances of design and the designed space.

He has participated in exhibitions, workshops, and commissions at local, national, and international levels.

Etiido has also been a lead facilitator in serigraphy workshops, including the prestigious Bruce Onobrakpeya Harmattan series.

Jacob Enemona Onoja studied Fine Arts at the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Kaduna State, and graduated as the best student in his class specialising in painting in 2001. He obtained a Master’s degree and a Ph.D. in Art history from the same institution in 2008 and 2017 respectively.

He enjoys studio practice and has attended several exhibitions, workshops, and conferences on art and related disciplines locally and internationally with an array of over 30 publications in journals and other literary materials as evidence.

His passions include, landscape paintings, photography, and discussions of art history.
He is an enthusiastic researcher and always searching for new vistas of knowledge and opportunities to improve service delivery to the university system, the community, and internationally.

He is a lover of peace and promotes the same through his artistic expressions and writings.

Also, Professor Nkemdilim Angela Udeani, a lecturer of textile in the Department of Industrial Design, Modibbo Adama University Yola (formerly Federal University of Technology). She is a graduate of textile (1992) of the University of Nigeria Nsukka, where she also obtained her MFA degree (2002) and Ph.D in Art Education (2011).

She mainly focuses on fiber and tactile materials as means of producing textile art pieces with a lot of interest in enhancing textile production through raw material sourcing.

She has published several articles to this effect and has also participated in several exhibitions.

Another member of the panel is Ato Arinze. He is an artist with special interest in portrait sculptures, and a noted potter. His grasp for forms, attest to his skills, particularly in handling figural sculptures.

He attended School in Lagos and Secondary School in Ozubulu, Anambra State between before he was admitted to study Art in Federal Polytechnic Oko, Anambra State and later proceeded to Yaba College of Technology, Lagos for his Higher Diploma, majoring in sculpture. He has been a full-time studio artist since 1991.

A good-natured humanitarian, who gains satisfaction through self-sacrifice, he finds happiness helping young ones grow mentally, physically and in other areas of life, Ato sees art as “a gift of life to those who have it and know, as well as for those who do not have and who know not.”

He is not just a sculptor and a potter, but one who does his work with a great sense of commitment and sincerity, a natural teacher and a leader, one who derives satisfaction from the joy of others, deriving pleasure from raising and building young artists to become proud of what they do.

He is a recipient of the Solidra Award for Sculpture as well as the Society Nigerian Artists (Lagos State Chapter) Distinguished Artist Award.

The seven jurors will select winners of the very attractive prizes now available ranging from the ₦1million Overall Winner’s prize through the Category Prizes of ₦500,000.00 to the ₦50,000.00 Consolation Prizes.