By Nii B. Andrews
Peju Alatise has won the prestigious FNB Art Prize for 2017.
Consequently, her art pieces will be the featured premier exhibit at the 10th Annual FNB Joburg Art Fair scheduled for September 8- 10, 2017 in Sandton.
The fair has been instrumental in making Johannesburg an important center in the global ecosystem of the art world. It has also promoted a strong international interest in contemporary African art and sustained a culture of collecting and connoisseurship.
Alatise has worked very hard to achieve international recognition after a difficult beginning in Lagos -where she was born in 1975, and where she later earned a university degree in architecture, before apprenticing with the visual artist David Dale.
In the past she stated with frankness, “Nigeria brings out the beast in me, it’s not easy to get things done, especially in the creative industry.
You cannot be laid back especially if you’re female. You have to be really aggressive.
If a man is giving orders they just do what he says, but for a woman you have to raise your voice a little bit higher for them to take you seriously.
Especially if you look small and you’re not a big fat madam who’s wearing a gold chain and gold earrings with a big car.”
It is no wonder that Alatise’s formidable mixed media work has been described as being “filled with strong societal narratives on the realities of life in Africa,”
ARTcapital Ghana sent Alatise a warm congratulatory note on her recent achievement and she has graciously consented for us to share some of her latest work with you.
We wish her all the best for the future.
