Nigeria’s Nosakhare Igbinosa wins BIC Art Master Africa competition

Nosakhare Igbinosa, a medical student from University of Ibadan, has emerged overall winner of the BIC Art Master Africa 2022 competition with a portrait titled ‘Bona’ winning in first place.

The competition under the theme ‘Celebrating Africa’ encouraged artists to create artwork that represents their personal identity as well as their unique perceptions of the African continent and its diverse cultures using the BIC ballpoint pen.

As part of efforts geared towards celebrating Nigerian creatives, a BIC Art Master Africa art exhibition kicked off at the Alliance Française de Lagos on November 23, 2022 and will run until December 12, 2022. Nigerian winners were celebrated by BIC in partnership with Alliance Française de Lagos.

The Art Master Africa winner received a cash prize of USD 2,000, while second and third place winners received prizes of USD 1,000 and USD 500 respectively. National winners received cash prizes of USD 500 each as well as BIC hampers.

Three Art Master Africa competition winners and six national winners from countries across the region including; South Africa, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Morocco, and Tunisia were announced.

“In its fifth edition, Art Master Africa continues to shine a light on ballpoint pen artists as they express themselves through creativity. Our flagship competition has seen tremendous growth year-on-year with higher participation numbers especially from Nigeria. We are proud of the platform that we have created for Nigerian youth and of the phenomenal artwork produced. The winning results this year are a testament to the Nigerian youth’s creativity and their dedication to the art industry,” Guillaume Groues, general manager, BIC, Nigeria, said.

Nigerian ballpoint artists, Hezekiah Okon for portrait titled ‘Proudly an African’ ranked second; Moses Ojeleye for portrait titled ‘Amaka’, and Dumbor Debeeh for portrait ‘Echoes of joy’ dominated the competition by winning third place while Okon’s ‘Proudly an African’ was also announced Nigerian national winner.

Winning pieces were chosen out of a total of 6,574 pieces submitted marking a significant increase versus last year. The art pieces were selected by a panel of judges comprised of experts from BIC, renowned artists from the region, and previous Art Master Africa competition winners.

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Marc Brebant, director, Alliance Française de Lagos, said that Alliance Française and BIC share a mutual mission aimed at promoting art, culture, and education amongst the youth. According to him, Alliance Française de Lagos is delighted to host at its premises, the first-of-its-kind BIC Art Master Africa exhibition.

“The quality of the artwork produced by the ballpoint pen artists is impressive and I would like to thank BIC for choosing Alliance Française de Lagos as a partner for this project. BIC has been a part of everyone’s childhood and it’s refreshing to see that the brand continues to be a part of people’s lives through various passion points,” Brebant said.

The national winners across Africa include the following: Uganda: Celebrating Africa in Harmony with Wildlife by artist Maiku Fred; Kenya: African Culture portrait by Griffin Lundi; South Africa: Imwe hamwe na Kamere (One with Nature) by Romeon Mwiseneza; Morocco: Mother Africa by Essadik Laila, and Tunisia: Africa with my pen by Mouhamed Boudhri.

The Art Master Africa competition is an annual competition that invites artists to creatively develop art pieces using the iconic BIC Ball Pen. The competition was launched in South Africa in 2017 after which it expanded into the wider region in 2019 and into the Middle East in 2021.