Chuu Krydz Ikwuemesi

Chuu Krydz Ikwuemesi, painter, art critic, ethno-aesthetician and cultural entrepreneur, has a BA (First Class Honours) in Fine and Applied Arts, an MFA in Painting and a PhD in Art History from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is the founder of the Pan-African Circle of Artists (PACA) and Emeritus President of The Art Republic (also known as Centre for Arts and Cultural Democracy), Enugu.

He has participated in workshops and creative residencies and has directed Afrika Heritage (the PACA Biennale), Overcoming Maps (PACA Study Tour of Africa), and the Mmanwu Theatre in Enugu. Ikwuemesi has researched and published on aspects of Igbo arts; his doctoral thesis embodied a comparative study of Igbo and Ainu arts and cultures. In 2009 he researched Ainu arts and aesthetics as a Japan Foundation Fellow in Hokkaido.

He is the editor of two major journals: The Art Republic and Letter from Afrika. He is a Reader in the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and was recently a Visiting Professor at the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan.

He is a Fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies African Humanities Program and a Senior Fellow of the IFRA (French Institute for Research in Africa). He was recently Coordinator of the Humanities Unit in the School of General Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka and is currently the Head, Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. A polyvalent artist of superlative merit, Ikwuemesi has held several solo and group exhibitions and published many articles on art in professional journals.

Membership of professional bodies:

Founding Member and Chairman, Board of Trustees, The Pan-African Circle of Artists.

Founding Member, The Visual Orchestra Club of Enugu.

Member, The Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA).

Member, Board of Trustees, The Art Republic (www.artrepublic.info).

Member, International Association of Art Critics.

Member, Congress for Cultural Actors in West Africa (CCAWA).

Founding Member, Anambra Book and Creativity Network.

Coordinator, Death Studies Association of Nigeria.



Source: http://www.unn.edu.ng