Winners have emerged in the 2023 National Gallery of Arts (NGA) Awards held on 18 April 2023 in Abuja in honour of artists, who have contributed immensely to the growth and development of visual arts subsector in particular and the arts sector in general.
Winners Of 2023 National Gallery Of Arts (NGA) Awards
- Lifetime Achievement award: Professor Bruce Onobrakpeya
- Outstanding Visual Arts Personality of the Year award: Chief (Mrs.) Nike Okundaye
- Distinguished Visual Arts award: Muhammad Sulaiman
- Arts Journalist of the Year award: Gregory Nwakunor
- Gallery of the Year: Thought Pyramid
- Curator of the Year: Mrs. Patience Nkwocha
- NGA Exemplary Staff: Comrade Ojo Agbor Idabi
- Inspiring Young Artists of the Year: Helen Ogochukwu Nzete and Izuchukwu Cliford Agba
According to Awards Coordinator & Deputy Director Overseeing office of Director, Information Services Department, National Gallery of Art, Oji Onoko, “legendary artist, Professor Bruce Onobrakpeya is 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 receives 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, receives the Arts Journalist of the Year award for his outstanding contribution to the promotion and propagation of arts and culture in Nigeria.
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.
It is a day set aside to recognise 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.”
