2017 Ruth Borchard Prize Winner and Hackney resident Benjamin Ogbebor has been the subject of an article in prominent local newspaper, the Hackney Citizen.
Celebrating Ogbebor’s success, the article emphasised Ogbebor’s incredible achievement winning the Prize as an ‘unknown’ artist against heavyweight household names such as Tracey Emin, Ishbel Myerscough and Harland Miller.
It cites 2017 judging panel member Charlotte Mullins’ description of Ogbebor’s self-portrait, Self Portrait II (2017), who commented, “It captures not only a near-forensic likeness in limpid detail but also a sense of the spirit within – we sense a steely determination behind those focussed eyes, that resolute jaw… The quiet clarity of the overall painting is mesmerising.”
The article was published in the newspaper’s Art and Design section on 19 May 2017, and was written by Andrew Barnes.