Image courtesy of The Guardian Nigeria
Dafe Oboro and Belinda Kazeem-Kaminski have emerged as winners of the Acess Bank Art X Prize 2022. The Art X Prize offers opportunities for early-career artists from Africa and its Diaspora to develop their creative practices with the goal of positioning them for global success. The prize was open to only emerging Nigerian artists before the organising team’s decision in 2022 to expand and to include an additional award for emerging artists from all of Africa and its Diaspora. This is to support more artists’ long-term careers in Africa and its Diaspora.
The Art X Prize is one of the most important and competitive art prizes in Africa and it is no news that thousands of applications came in from over 50 countries across the globe.
This 2022 edition was judged by a jury of renowned artists and art industry stakeholders Alessio Antoniolli (Director, Gasworks & The Triangle Network), Dr Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung (Artistic Director, SAVVY Contemporary), Gabi Ncgobo (Artist and Curatorial Director, University of Pretoria), Maria Varnava (Founder, Tiwani Contemporary), Professor Peju Layiwola (Artist and Historian), and Victor Ehikhamenor (Artist).
Oboro and Kazeem-Kaminski will be awarded $10,000 for the exhibition of their works at the 2023 ART X Lagos. Oboro will undergo a residency at Gasworks London, while Kazeem-Kaminski will undergo a residency at Yinka Shonibare’s G.A.S. Foundation in Lagos.
About Dafe Oboro
Dafe Oboro (b. 1994) is an artist working predominantly in photography and film. Oboro has worked as a casting director, producer, director, and photographer, embracing a multidimensional storytelling approach. Oboro employs evocative sound and visuals to question the issues surrounding masculinity, migration through time and location, and the social-political status of contemporary Nigeria and larger Africa, drawing elements from fashion and popular culture. Oboro’s goal is to destabilize the frequently oversimplified understandings of Africa in mainstream popular media, making room for a more nuanced connection with the artist’s cultural background.
Oboro has collaborated with various organizations within and outside Nigeria such as Parkwood Entertainment/Beyoncé, Patta x Mephisto, Patta x Tommy Jeans, Zalando, i-D Magazine, Ottolinger, Vlisco&co, The Face magazine, WePresent, Dazed Magazine, Guernica Magazine, Art X Lagos, Nike, and WaterAid. He was the 2020 recipient of the film prize in The Future Awards Africa. In 2020, he was nominated for Dazed and Confused magazine’s Dazed100 list of people shaping youth culture.
Oboro’s film work has been screened across the globe at acclaimed festivals such as Milan (Fashion Film Festival Milano, 2019), the Yale Africa Film Festival (2021), London Short FilmFestival (2021), and Africa in Motion Film Festival (2019), amongst others.
See some of our favourite works from the artist below.
Image courtesy of Art X
Image courtesy of Art X
Image courtesy of Art X
Follow Dafe Oboro and his works here.
About Belinda Kazeem-Kamiński
Belinda Kazeem-Kamiński (b. 1980) is a Vienna-based writer, artist, and researcher, whose works manifest themselves through a variety of media. Her research-based and process-oriented investigative practice is rooted in Black feminist theory, which frequently deals with archives, specifically with the voids in public archives and collections. Through her work with a variety of media, she explores varying spaces and temporalities in order to dissect the present and the separation between documentary and speculation.
Kaminski has won prestigious awards in the art space such as the Camera Austria Award (2021) and the Doc-Grant Austrian Academy of Science (2018-2020), amongst others.
She has exhibited her works in different parts of the world including Camera Austria Graz (2022), Emplotment (2022), Museum Ludwig Budapest, KAS (2022), Ansichten einer dezentrierten Welt (2021), and Museum der Moderne Salzburg, amongst others. Her films have been shown at The International Film Festival Rotterdam, Diagonale, and Vancouver International Film Festival.
See some of our favourite works from the artist below.
Image courtesy of the artist
Image courtesy of the artist
Image courtesy of the artist
Follow Belinda and her works here.
