THE MINISTRY OF ARTS / COVER DEPT.
The Nigeria Imaginary Cover Art Contest Winner
‘Welcome to Venice’ by Sarah N. Kanu.
THE MINISTRY OF ARTS / COVER DEPT.
The Nigeria Imaginary Cover Art Contest Winner
We organized this contest in collaboration with the Museum of West African Art.
We have a winner! We’re thrilled to unveil the winning entry of our Nigeria Imaginary Cover Art Contest. The contest was held to select the cover of The Republic’s next issue in collaboration with the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) to celebrate Nigeria’s pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale. After careful deliberation, we are delighted to announce that Nigerian visual artist, Sarah Nkechi Kanu, has been selected as the winner of our contest with her entry, ‘An Offer to La Biennale’ (revised to ‘Welcome to Venice’)!
On 19 March 2024, The Republic put out a call for entries to select an artwork that would feature on the cover of our next issue, Nigeria Imagery. This issue celebrates Nigeria’s 2nd exhibition at the Venice Biennale and spotlights Nigeria’s rich heritage with profiles on some of the featured artists at the biennale, deep dives into our industries and essays on various aspects of our culture.
We expected submissions that showed deep thought into the significance of the issue as well as evidence of knowledge on Republic and MOWAA work. Kanu’s cover design matched our vision with subtle references to Nigeria represented on the foreground, with symbols such as our coat of arms, and Venice, represented on the background with symbols such as water.
Sarah was fascinated and keen on the idea of procession. She explains that as her art shows Nigerians entering into Venice, it represents Nigeria ‘entering the space in a ceremonious and spiritual manner and the power that that has for the people that are in movement as well as the honour for who or what is at the end of that journey.’
Listen to her discuss the full process of her work below:
Sarah N. Kanu’s original entry, ‘An Offer to La Biennale’.
Sarah N. Kanu’s final cover, ‘Welcome to Venice’, following oversight from Wale Lawal.
We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Kanu as well as our appreciation to all the artists who sent in entries. Special thanks to MOWAA for making this cover possible. Along with our next issue, this cover is available for pre-order (details below)⎈
PREORDER THE MAGAZINE AND/OR THE COVER
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