Nigerian textile artist Samuel Nnorom wins global art prize for his Covid-19 inspired piece After the Pandemic
The artist was selected from thousands of other artist from around the world, earning himself £10,000. (R217 029.07) in cash among other fabulous prizes.
By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor
A Nigerian artist who works in traditional textile material found in West Africa Samuel Nnorom has been declared the winner of the Global Art Prize for Change. The sculptor beat thousands of other emerging contemporary artists from around the globe to this prestigious prize.
At£10,000. (R217 029,07) this must rank as one of the richest art prizes globally, and the fact that it attracted 2500 entries from around the world, means that this inaugural art prize has set a high standards for future entries. Surely fierce competition among artists is most definitely likely to ensue in future as creatives fight it out to get their hands on this prize aimed at emerging artists whose entries must align to the theme identified by the adjudicators and the oragnisers.
The organisers of the global Art for Change prize had this to say yesterday, December 13, 2023: “M&C Saatchi Group and Saatchi Gallery are proud to announce the overall winner of the Art for Change Prize, Samuel Nnorom, from Nsukka, Africa, for his work titled After the Pandemic.
This artist from Nigerria therefore today holds the distinction of being the overall winner of their annual international art initiative, Art for Change Prize, which invited emerging artists from around the world to creatively respond to the theme of ‘Equality’ for the chance to win a grand prize of £10,000.
Samuel was announced as the overall winner of the Art for Change Prize at a dedicated exhibition unveiling at Saatchi Gallery, by Chair of Judges, Sinta Tantra. He will receive a £10,000 cash prize, as well as having his winning artwork, After the Pandemic, displayed in the gallery from 8th December 2022 until 6th January 2023.
Hailing from Abia Nigeria, Samuel discovered his talent at the age of 9 years while assisting his father in his shoe workshop. His work is inspired by time spent in his mother’s tailoring workshop as a child, where he first experimented with colourful fabrics, sewing needles and thread.
Samuel holds a BA (sculpture major) degree from the University of Jos and is currently concluding an MFA in sculpture from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Samuel belongs to the New Nsukka School of Art and he is currently exploring Okirika clothes and Ankara fabric using bubbles techniques as sculptural media. The choice of Ankara fabric represents the identity of his local community and plays with the idea of ‘social fabric’; the different relationships and connections that are encapsulated in bubbles which hold society together.
After the Pandemic was created in response to COVID-19, where people settled in fragments and lived separately in their own bubbles. It encourages us to reflect on how people were affected differently and the impact that this has had on equality.
“My body of work is made from pieces of Ankara fabric/ African wax print fabrics collected from either tailor’s debris or cast-off clothes from homes and waste foams from furniture workshops wrapped and stitched into bubbles of various colours and sizes; through actions like sewing, rolling, tying, stringing, suspending, cutting, among others, which navigate boundaries between textiles, painting and sculpture in a poetic rendition. I am interested in the identity and meaning that fabrics represent especially the Ankara fabric which is mostly consumed in [my] local community and west Africa. Fabric suggests to me as a social structure or social organization that weaves humanity into society; in the case of “fabric of society” or “social fabric”, however, it is peculiar to different societies while bubble suggests a structure that holds or stores something for a period of time. My work processes through actions like cutting, rolling, stitching, sewing and installation to engage viewers in self-interrogation, critical thinking and questioning of sociopolitical structures and the human conditions of what truth and conspiracy connote to our daily lives wrapped in bubbles,” says Nnorom.
“Art for Change Prize reignites access to art and culture amongst younger and underrepresented audiences, and in doing so aims to inspire a new, more diverse generation of creatives. With over 2,500 entries received from artists based in 130 countries within M&C Saatchi key global regions (UK, Europe, Americas, Asia, Australia, and Africa), a winner from each location was carefully selected by some of the best business and creative minds from M&C Saatchi Group globally and a special selection of eminent guest judges*. Each winner in this non-for-profit initiative will receive a £2,000 cash prize, as well as having their artworks displayed alongside Samuel’s at Saatchi Gallery,”says a statement from the oragnisers..
Neo Mashigo, Chief Creative Officer at M&C Saatchi Abel South Africa and Art for Change Judge added: “Africa is brimming with talent and the world is waking up to Africa’s creative prowess. The talent available on the continent is monumental, I’m excited to see what the world would look like if Africa, the world’s second-largest and second-most-populous continent, unleashed its full creative potential. Art for Change will provide a platform to showcase African creatives and African creativity on a world stage. Samuel Nnorom’s work showcases how African creativity is in a brilliant position to showcase itself in the most honest, pure, and authentic way to lead the charge in occupying spaces that influence design, architecture, fashion, photography, advertising, and trade”.
Sinta Tantra, Chair of Judges, said:“As artists, we are trained to analyse not only the final product of what is seen, but the narratives of the unseen. The judges this year were not only impressed with the sculptural presence of Samuel’s work but moreover his process of making.” “At times Samuel works alone, and at other times employs others to help produce the larger scale pieces. As such he could be seen an artistic conductor, physically weaving together people and materials to form communities.”
“I believe the Art for Change Prize is not only about what makes good art or bad art. It is about fostering artists as community leaders, empowering themselves and those around, and inspiring change. Both now and for the future.”
Mary Corrigall, Art Advisor, Commentator, Independent Researcher & the African region, Art for Change Judge : “Samuel Nnorom’s works stood out from all the other entries due to its visual richness, the quality of the execution, and the intricacy of the works but also due to the manner in which he has further developed a recognisably African idiom. His textile works don’t squarely conform to traditional conceptions of sculpture, paintings or hanging works. The ‘bubbles’ of fabric that operate as his chosen expression reference other artists – most notably Yinka Shonibare – and similarly carry and intertwine multiple histories and identities though he does so in a less abstract manner detached from the body. In this way, he can engage with identity without objectifying the body as the central signifier of it in the process. He continues to drive the line that African artists’ do with such radical panache in which when the medium ultimately becomes the message”.
The five regional winners
- Americas Winner – Rachel Zhang from Pennsylvania, United States for her works The American Dream and Fruit Market in the Gvnt’s Garden
- Asia Winner – Sharon Cheung from Hong Kong for her Our Time series
- Australia Winner – Clare Jaque Vasquez from Queensland, Australia for her work The Hunter & Gatherer
- Europe Winner – Jaroslaw Lisicki from Wroclaw, Poland for his works Untitled and We
- UK Winner – Felix Chesher from London, England for this works Proximity and PrEP
The competition was launched as part of a shared mission by M&C Saatchi Group and Saatchi Gallery in making art, culture, and creativity accessible to everyone. The aim is to highlight and stimulate dialogue around visual arts as an active medium for positive global and social change and give exposure to emerging artists worldwide.
However this is not the first time that Nnorom has won a major prize in the past two years.
”The artist who works in textile is the first non South African to walk away with this prestigious prize for emerging artists not signed to a gallery.
Colourful sculptural pieces, including that of an astronaut won Nigerian artist the Stephan Welz Cassirer Award for emerging artists last night at a ceremony that was initially scheduled to take place physically but was cancelled on the 11th hour due to the Covid-19 situation in the country. Instead the ceremony took place virtually through Zoom.
One of the pieces that must have won the hearts, minds and eyes of the judges to award this year’s prize to Samuel Nnorom from Nigeria who works in textile to create these colourful sculptural pieces must be a the astronaut piece.
Nnorom who has the distinction of being the first winner of this prestigious award who is a non South Africa since the award was incepted 10 years ago, explained that the sculpture represents the idea of Africans taking their pride,”reported CITYLIFE/ARTS in 2021.