George Emeka Agbo was appointed in 2008 to teach in the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), following his graduation with First Class (Cum Laude) in 2006 and completion of his national youth service (2007-2008). In 2011, he was awarded the African Programme in Museum and Heritage Studies (APMHS) scholarship at the Centre for Humanities Research (CHR), University of the Western Cape (UWC), South Africa. After graduating from the course (with Cum Laude), he returned to UNN where he completed his Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in 2013 (also in the Cum Laude category). His MFA course in Visual Communication Design and Photography prepared him for a PhD programme in History, with focus on Photography History and Theory. He undertook the PhD with the Andrew Mellon doctoral fellowship at the CHR and History Department, UWC (2014-2016). He also won the 2015 Ivan Karp Doctoral Research Award of the CHR and the Laney Graduate School, Emory University, USA. In the PhD research, he explored how the circulation of photographs among Nigerians on Facebook enables a political critique of post-independence Nigeria. In April 2016, a paper drawn from one of the chapters of the thesis won the best student paper prize at the International African Studies Conference, University of Minnesota. The paper is under review for publication in a special issue of Africa journal edited by Richard Vokes. In due course, other papers will appear in other journals and edited books.

George has also taken part in a number of exhibitions and curatorial projects in Nigeria (Nsukka, Enugu, Abuja, and Lagos) and South Africa (Cape Town). In 2012, he won the Martin Ilo special art prize at the Life in My City Art Festival (LIMCAF) exhibition. In 2013, he curated the Enugu regional exhibition of LIMCAF and co-curated the grand finale.  He has also co-curated a number of other shows in Nigeria. Within the scope of the APMHS in 2011, he curated the Celebrating the Unknown exhibition of prints from the Community Arts Project (CAP) collection of the Robben Island Museum/UWC Mayibiye Archive. In all, George shares his time between writing, studio production, and curating, but pays more attention to writing.

 PUBLICATIONS

Last Modified: Thu, 24 Aug 2017 09:50:50 SAST