An announcement by the Art Director of LIMCAF, Dr. Ayo Adewunmi, who accompanied the prizewinners, said the artists, which included three female, were winners of the 2018, 2019 and 2021 top six prizes in the yearly Life In My City Art Festival competition for young Nigerian artists not older than 35 years of age.
The Dakar Art Biennale is only one of several rewards in cash and career enhancing opportunities on offer every year. It is a special sponsorship, all expenses paid by Emeritus Professor El Anatsui one of Africa’s most renowned artists, who is also one of LIMCAF’s two patrons. The other patron is Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, Obi of Onitsha, while Elder K. U. Kalu, former Chairman of Union Bank, chairs the Board of Trustees.
While in Senegal, they took part in a joint show with selected older artists , who are equally members of the Pan African Circle of Artists in the one ‘Off’ exhibitions of the biennale. Perhaps, the most striking part of the evening was the stories of the young artists, who were evidently overwhelmed by all that was happening, about their journey to LIMCAF and the prizes they eventually won.