Goethe-Institut announces Henrike Grohs Award shortlist

The award will be launched in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, on 13 March courtesy of Goethe-Institut and the Grohs family. The €20 000 prize is in memory of Grohs, the former head of Goethe-Institut Abidjan, who was killed along with 17 others during a terrorist attack in Grand-Bassam on 13 March 2016.

The shortlisted artists are Em’kal Eyongakpa (Cameroon), Georgina Maxim (Zimbabwe) and Makouvia Kokou Ferdinand (Togo).

Eyongakpa is an intermedia artist who approaches the experienced, the unknown and collective histories through a ritual use of repetition and transformation. His recent ideas draw from indigenous knowledge systems and aesthetics, ethnobotany, applied mycology as well as technology.

Maxim’s design work combines weaving, stitch work and the utilisation of found textiles creating objects that evade definition. Her dresses are deconstructed and at times reconstructed to find new ways of giving tribute to and reflection upon the person who owned the original garment.

Ferdinand’s sculptural and performance work plays with borders and mixes memories, materials and cultural references. Building on the traditional Mina culture, his gaze on contemporary society is unique, sometimes ironic and often moving.

The winner will be announced and awarded in Abidjan on 6 and 13 March respectively.

The Henrike Grohs Art Award is a biennial prize dedicated to artists who are living and working in Africa and practicing in the field of visual arts.

Jury members Koyo Kouoh, Laurence Bonvin, Raphael Chikukwa and Simon Njami said in a collective statement that the prize “aims at strengthening artists and encouraging them in their quest for a world of togetherness and dialogue”.

“The Henrike Grohs Art Award is a biennial award dedicated to artists living and working in Africa. Yet the message sent goes far beyond the continent. It is a universal address, a call for reflection and action,” the jury said.

The award intends to continue Groh’s special commitment to support artists in Africa and make a contribution towards international dialogue. It will be awarded every two years to an artist or arts collective practicing visual arts.

Grohs was instrumental in setting up the Music In Africa project in 2011. She served as a board member of the Music In Africa Foundation for two years and stepped down to focus on her responsibilities as the director of Goethe-Institut Abidjan.