History was made on September 6th 2018 when a young gifted Nigerian child, Kanyeyachukwu Tagbo-Okeke, known as the “Young Picasso” was conferred with the prestigious “Flame of Peace” award in Vienna, Austria for his contribution to promoting peace with art, to the amazement of the arts and diplomatic community in Austria and the world.

This award has been described by art critics as spectacular and phenomenal and it is the first time a Nigerian and someone so young would be awarded.

At the age of 8, Kanyeyachukwu is the youngest ever recipient of the award and the conferment speaks a lot more for Kanye, being a child who overcame the impediments of autism and has shown a high level of creativity.

The Flame of Peace is an award granted by the Austrian non-profit organization, Association for the Promotion of World Peace, it was instituted in 2007 and has been given to many prominent individuals such as the President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh; Ambassador of Jordan to Austria, HE Mr. Hussam Al Husseini; The President of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga; the Chairman of the Carnegie Foundation, the President of the Prague Parliament in Chezk Republic, and a host of others.

Kanyeyachukwu who is a native of Anambra State, Nigeria has been hailed as an artistic genius by fellow artistes and museum curators from around the globe and this has seen the young artist invited to exhibitions across Europe.

The journey of this young dynamo has been described by his parents, Tagbo and Sylvia Okeke, as simply a miracle. Beginning with what they initially regarded as mere “scribbling on paper”, his keen interest in arts led to his enrollment in an arts tutoring class where his skill at abstract creativity was further honed, and what began as a childhood interest suddenly reached the world in 2017 when young Kanye’s works found its way to the Nigerian Ambassador to Austria; an arts enthusiast who was visiting the embassy saw one of his paintings and, after requiring who the artiste was, immediately alerted other art enthusiasts and collectors.

After reviews of his works, Kanye was nominated for the prestigious “Flame of Peace” award for his contributions on fostering world Peace with art, which was conferred on him by the Arch Duchess of Austria, Eleonore Lothringen .

This prestigious award caused so much excitement in The Austrian arts community and lead to invitations to numerous other exhibitions including that of Solomon Okpurukhre, a Nigerian arts curator also based in Vienna. At the Flame of Peace Awards, Kanye’s painting was selected from over seventy artists invited globally to showcase their works at the United Nations Young Artists for Peace exhibition to the amazement of art critics and lovers.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian community in Vienna has been agog with celebration of Kanyechukwu’s achievement; the Nigerian and Anambra State governments have also shown immense pleasure in Kanye.

What continues to baffle many is how such a young child, with all the challenges he has faced, could be so successful in the highly coveted world of art. This just goes to prove even more that all kids are gifted in one way or the other, all they need is for their talents to be discovered and nurtured.

•Excerpted from Leadership report

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