The Nigerian-American conceptual artist and poet, Precious Okoyomon and nine other creatives have been announced as the inaugural winners of Chanel’s first-ever prize for artists, Chanel Next Prize.
Precious Okoyomon, the 28-year-old writer of the chap, Ajebota, was earlier in the year honoured with the 2021 Frieze Artists Award at Frieze New York – an award that offers a major opportunity for an emerging artist to debut an ambitious new commission – for her conceptual artworks like Earthseed and A Drop of Sun Under The Earth.
The Chanel Next Prize of $113,000 (₦46,352,600.00) for each winner is Chanel’s new biennial award that the fashion house founded to support 10 international artists and creatives working across film, music, performance, and visual art.
According to the fashion brand, the prize money is intended to help the artists fund their art projects “and access mentorship and networking opportunities that the brand helps facilitate.”
Rungano Nyoni. Photograph from Listal Botis Seva. Image from Helen Maybanks Photography
Other African artists honoured with this award include South Sudanese refugee and game designer, Lual Mayen; Lisbon-based dancer, Marlene Monterio Freitas, whose choreography references her native island of Cape Verde; Zambian-Welsh film director, Rungano Nyoni; Botis Seva, a London-based dancer and choreographer whose practise is rooted, among others.
This year’s jury comprised Chinese multimedia artist Cao Fei, Ghanian British architect Sir David Adjaye OBE and British actress Tilda Swinton.