Nigerian documentary photographer, Christopher Nelson Obuh has been listed among the 20 shortlisted artists for the 2020 Henrike Grohs Art Award.
A statement from the Goethe Institut, Nigeria disclosed that the selection committee comprising curator at Michaelis Galleries, South Africa, Nkule Mabaso; Project Manager, Doual’ art, Cameroon, Yves Makongo, and Ugandan independent curator, Serubiri Moses, selected Obuh and the 19 other artists on the shortlist.
They are Abdessamad El Montassir (Morocco), Akwasi Bediako Afrane (Ghana), Anderu Immaculate Mali a.k.a Immy Mali (Uganda), Aurelie Djiena (Cameroon),
Eva Diallo (Senegal/Switzerland), Francois Knoetze (South Africa) and Ivy Brandie Chemutai Ng’ ok (Kenya).
The others are Jackie Karuti (Kenya), Kitso Lelliott (Botswana/South Africa), Michael Soi (Kenya), Misheck Masamvu (Zimbabwe), Oupa Sibeko (South Africa), Patrick Bongoy (DRC/South Africa), Rehema Chachage (Tanzania), Sabelo Mlangeni (South Africa) and Stacey Gillian Abe (Uganda).
Syowia Kyambi (Kenya), Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi (South Africa/USA) and Va-Bene Elikem Kofi Fiatsi (Ghana) complete the shortlist.
An international jury will award the prize at an event during the Dak’Art Biennial of Contemporary African Art in May 2020. The winning individual artist or collective will receive a cash prize of 20.000€. Two artists or collectives will be selected as runners up and will receive a cash prize of 5.000€ each.
Cameroonian intermedia artist, Em’kal Eyongakpa won the inaugural award in 2018.
The award is a roving biennial art prize instituted by the Goethe-Institut and the Grohs family in memory of Grohs, the former Head of Goethe-Institut in Abidjan.
It is awarded biennially to an artist or arts collective living and working in Africa and practising in the field of visual arts.
The late Grohs was Head of the Goethe-Institut in Abidjan from 2013 to 2016. She was killed alongside 17 other people in a terrorist attack in Côte d’Ivoire in March 2016.
