The Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria, Juan Sell, has expressed confidence that visual arts exhibition will strengthen the cultural relationship between both countries.
Sell, who spoke in Abuja at the Awards Ceremony and Visual Art Exhibition tagged, “Arts: A Sustainable Perspective,” said the yearly event is one of the cherished treasures of building Spain’s cultural agenda in Nigeria.
“We have joined forces with the Society of Nigerian Artists. We are very happy about your collaboration. Thank you for your assistance, this journey takes us to art and sustainability. A very important reality of today,” he said.
According to him, over 75 artists from all over the country have participated in the 2022 conference and a professional panel was set up for the winning selection process, and decided that three should receive awards.
Also speaking, the president of Society of Nigerian Artists, Mohammed Suleiman, said “The next level is for art because in Nigeria, we think oil and agriculture the next thing for us is this art and it’s the thing that we’re mixing with the cultural sector. We also appreciate this relationship and hope that this continues.
On her part, the head of a 5-man panel that chose the awardees, Polly Alakija, explained how the panel selected the three winners out of the 16 semi-finalists.
“Number one is a very clear title from a sustainable perspective, so the piece of work had to reflect that perspective. The writer needed to reflect that. But I found that some artists reflected it in the artwork but then the writer didn’t reflect the title.
“So, I assess the relevance to the title to the brief, and then I judged it on originality, and I judged it on visual brilliance,” she said.
The winner of the competition, was Godday Saleh, from Nasarawa State, who presented a mixed media piece with beads.
While expressing excitement over his victory, he thanked the organizers and pledged to use the platform for the growth of visual arts in Nigeria.
