masterclass Facilitator
UCHE OKPA-IROHA
born on the 2nd of January 1972 in Enugu, Nigeria.
He holds a Bachelor of Technology degree (1997) in Food Engineering from the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.
Uche is a founding member of the Nigeria photography group known as the Blackbox photography collective and a founding member of the Invisible Borders Trans-African photography travel group in 2009. His first major work “Under Bridge Life”, published in 2008 was favorably received by the critics and exposed him to the international media and art market.
Uche is a two – time winner of the Seydou keita Award for the best photography creation at the 8th and 10th Bamako Encounters with the “Under Bridge Life” and “the Plantation Boy” projects in 2009 and 2015 respectively. He also received the Jean Paul Blachere prize in 2009. Uche was nominated in the Prix Pictet Award “Growth” in 2010 and the National Geographic All Roads Photography program in 2011. He is a contributor to several publications including “Lagos – the City at work”, “Nigerians behind the lens” and “Unifying Africa”.
He was among the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass selection committee in 2016. In 2015, he showed his work at the La Biennale di Venezia 56th International Art Exhibition – All The World’s Futures (Invisible Borders Group Exhibition) in Venice Italy; Sights and Sounds – Nigeria at the Jewish Museum, New York; Finissage Videonale.15 Videonale In Lagos, Changing City – Shifting Spaces Kunstmuseum, Bonn, Germany.
Uche is an ex-resident and alumnus of the Rijksakademie van Beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (2011- 2012). He lives and works in Lagos as a photographer, founder/Director of the photography platforms – The Nlele Institute (TNI) and the Lagos OPEN RANGE. He is also the co-founder of the photography and video art night of projections – FOTOPARTY Lagos.
