Onobrakpeya, Okundaye, others for NGA Awards

The National Gallery of Arts (NGA) will on Tuesday, April 18, in Abuja, honour artists, who have contributed immensely to the growth and development of visual arts subsector in particular and the arts sector in general.

According to Awards Coordinator & Deputy Director Overseeing office of Director, Information Services Department, National Gallery of Art, Oji Onoko, “legendary artist, Prof. Bruce Onobrakpeya, will be bestowed with Lifetime Achievement award.”

He said the artist who will be 91 years old in August “is a renowned master printmaker worldwide and acknowledged for his mentorship to a generation of artists. Coincidentally, Onobrakpeya, on April 6, 2023, was honoured with the key to Georgia at The High Museum, Atlanta, by Representatives of Georgia State Assembly, United States of America.”

He also said, “on April 13, the modernist artist, was equally bestowed with the Honorary Georgia Citizen of Georgia by the State of Georgia for his exemplary career as artist, role model, father and teacher of many generations of Nigerian artists.”

On her part, Chief (Mrs.) Nike Okundaye will receive the Outstanding Visual Arts Personality of the Year Award. Besides her known craft of adire and bead making, she has transformed to a modern artist, mentor and exceptional entrepreneur. Her gallery, Nike Art Gallery, located in Lekki, Lagos, is the biggest in Nigeria today and recently opened another gigantic gallery in Abuja.

Distinguished Visual Arts Award goes to Muhammad Sulaiman, current President of Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA). The multi-dimensional artist is a unifier, bridge builder and mentor to young artists. His driving force is the improvement of the lots of visual artists in Nigeria.

The deputy editor of The Guardian newspapers, Gregory Nwakunor, will equally bag the Arts Journalist of the Year award for his outstanding contribution to the promotion and propagation of arts and culture in Nigeria. Combining his grinding task as deputy editor, he painstakingly writes on arts and edits the arts pages with seamless ease. Only passion for the arts makes that kind of commitment possible.

Other awardees are: Thought Pyramid, Gallery of the Year; Mrs. Patience Nkwocha, Curator of the Year, Comrade Ojo Agbor Idabi, NGA Exemplary Staff; Helen Ogochukwu Nzete and Izuchukwu Cliford Agba, Inspiring Young Artists of the Year.

“Mast festival and awards is specifically designed by the National Gallery of Art (NGA) as a yearly event to reward excellence in creativity in the visual arts sub-sector and arts sector, generally,” Onoko said.

It is a day set aside to recognizse and honour outstanding personalities for their contributions to the growth and development of visual arts sub-sector in Nigeria. It will be a festive atmosphere of glamour, colour and razzmatazz,” he said.