Ghanaian artist wins award in South Africa

A graduate from the College of  Art at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Gideon Appah, has won the 1st Merit award at the 30th edition of the L’Atelier Art Prize organised by Barclays Bank, South Africa.

The Barclays L’Atelier Art competition is presented annually by Barclays Africa Group Limited (ABSA) in conjunction with the South African National Association for the Visual Arts (SANAVA).

It is a competition for young artists aged 21 to 35 years. For the first time in its history, this year’s contest was opened to young visual artists from Ghana, Botswana, Zambia and Kenya.

Appah’s work entitled ‘Worn Out Family,’ is a mixed media piece comprising canvas, cloth and cardboard. He will take part in a three-month residency programme in Johannesburg at his earliest convenience.

The overall winner was Kai Lossgott, a South African video artist.

The artist selection and management of the prize was organised by the Accra-based Nubuke Foundation, a non-governmental institution founded in 2006 to promote the visual arts, culture and heritage of Ghana.

Works from other shortlisted participating Ghanaian artists were shown in March 2015 at the Nu Gallery at Nubuke Foundation.

“Certainly, we are excited that Gideon has won this award. He certainly deserves this honour and we believe he will take advantage of his prize to continue to develop his practice,” said Odile Tevie, Director of the Nubuke Foundation.