The Lifetime Achievement Award (Posthumous), the first ever in Guyanese art, was awarded to the late Philip Alphonso Moore AA, best known for his sculpture of the 1763 Monument.
The citation was received by his daughter Corine Munroe at the award ceremony of the Guyana Visual Arts Competition on December 14 at the National Cultural Centre (NCC). Following Munroe’s acceptance speech on behalf of the Moore family, Minister of Culture Dr Frank Anthony announced that the sum of $1 million will be used by his ministry to commence the cataloging of Moore’s work, according to the Government Information Agency (GINA).
The National Exhibition of the Visual Arts was last held in 1994. At the request of artists in Guyana, the competition was re-launched in August by the Patron, President Donald Ramotar. The competition will be a biennial event on the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport’s calendar with the aim of unearthing, nurturing and motivating the country’s best and up-and-coming artists.
GINA said the competition attracted over 200 entries in six categories – painting, drawing, sculpture, textiles, ceramics and photography. The participants were required to submit no more than three pieces done within the last five years, in the six categories to the Burrowes School of Art on Carifesta Avenue.
President Ramotar is quoted as saying, “While we correctly pursue economic development for all Guyanese, we recognise that another source of wealth is our creative imagination. Indeed art helps to add quality to our lives and the need for this will continue to grow as the society satisfies more and more of its material needs.” He said he hoped the competition, including the exhibition at the National Gallery from December 15, can invoke a vibrant exchange of ideas and encourage an active art market in Guyana where persons can see the best Guyanese artists have to offer.
President Ramotar presented the prizes to the winners: $500,000, and a gold medal for first place; $300,000 and a silver medal for the second place and $200,000 and a bronze medal for third place. There were also a special Promise Award to a young artist and the Judges Special Award.
GINA said that the first place winners were George Simon for painting, with his entry ‘Homage to Wilson Harris’, Gary Thomas for sculpture for his piece ‘Lifeline Integration’, Michael Griffith for drawing ‘Through the Canvas’ and Nikhil Ramkarran for photography. Aneeza Coelho won the Promise Award and Akima McPherson the Judges’ Special Award for her piece ‘Walk with Me’.
Award winning artist, poet, musician and art critic Stanley Greaves, chairman of the panel of judges bemoaned the fact that entries in the category of ceramics and textile were uninspiring and in his report, called on the school system to give “supreme importance” to art education.
Judging was done by a panel of five local and foreign high profile judges experienced in the visual arts. The panel who examined the entries in November before short-listing and selecting the winners, also included Therese Hadchithy, a native of Denmark who has put together exhibitions of a variety of Barbadian and Caribbean artists, Daphne Rogers, a trained art and craft teacher, Dr Rupert Roopnarine, an art critic, film maker, educator and politician and Ras Camo Williams, pannist and founder of the Roots and Culture Gallery. According to GINA, the judges were impressed with the good quality and creative nature of the entries.
