The Award Ceremony of the 104th College Art Association Annual Conference took place at the Marriott Wardman Park, in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC. Of course I am biased, but it was a great evening--a night when scholars, curators, and artists are acknowledged and celebrated for their work by their peers. For me, the event was an opportunity to express my gratitude to some of the people who in different ways contributed to my work and career:
Obiora Udechukwu and
El Anatsui (my teachers in art school who instilled in me the idea of art making as an intellectual journey); Lagos-based journalists
Toyin Akinosho and
Kunle Ajibade (who gave me my first opportunities to write art criticism in Lagos in the early 1990s); the poet
Ada Udechukwu, and art historians
Sidney Kasfir and
James Meyer who made me a better writer;
Hal Foster, who remains my model as a critic-art historian; and especially my two brothers and co-travelers
Okwui Enwezor and
Salah Hassan, with whom I began the critical journey in 1993 when Okwui convened a group of us to establish
Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art. They kept faith with that dream, particularly through the difficult years. Finally, the award for me is a celebration of the memory of the legendary artist
Uche Okeke (1933-2016), a key subject of my book, who died in Nigeria on Jan. 5, the same day my award was announced. Opening up his archive to me made my book possible.
Anyways, here as some photos from the night.
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| Krista with Dewitt Godfrey, CAA President |
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| Linda Downs (r), with a CAA member |
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| CAA Fellows |
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| Krista receiving her award |
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| Eminent art historian and Columbia University professor, Rosalind Krauss, who received the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement for Writing on Art award |
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| Audience at the reception |
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| Selfie with Tania |
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| Salah and Terry |
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| Selfie with Krista |
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| Selfie with Terry |
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| Salah, moi, Victor |
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