Nigeria mourns the loss of a great artist and preserver of culture, Ijeoma Loren Uche-Okeke

Nigeria again has lost one of its own great preservers of art and culture, Ijeoma Loren Uche-Okeke, who passed on on the 1st of September 2022.

Born in Nigeria in 1972, Ijeoma was a passionate and dynamic person who had contributed much to the visual arts, academia and civil society.

Ijeoma graduated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1992 with a BA with honours in Fine and Applied Arts. Following an early career in Lagos, Nigeria, where she served in roles at the Musical Society of Nigeria and the African Foundation for the Arts, she attended the University of the Witwatersrand, from which she earned her MA in Heritage Studies and a postgraduate diploma in Arts, Culture and Heritage Management. Ijeoma also earned a postgraduate diploma in 2008 from Bard College’s Centre for Environmental Policy, receiving a fellowship through Bard’s Learning Across Borders program funded by the Henry Luce Foundation. She worked as a cultural researcher, participating in fundamental research projects for numerous organisations, including the European Union and the British Council.

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Ijeoma Loren Uche-Okeke was the Chief Executive Officer of the Asele Institute, a cultural institution founded by her late father, master artist and scholar, Uche Okeke. Her drive and determination to preserve her father’s legacy and champion African artists by further developing Asele into a global institution was groundbreaking.

Our heartfelt condolences to her family and friends.

May Ijeoma rest in peace.