Guest Artists Space Foundation began working collaboratively with Tiwani Contemporary in early 2022 following the opening of their new gallery space on Victoria Island, Lagos. The resulting opportunities are funded through our Fellowship Platinum Partner donor package, a giving level used to directly support three residency fellowship awards in Nigeria over a three-year period with a focus on African and African Diaspora recipients. In this instance, it allows artists who are either represented by or exhibiting with Tiwani to complete a one-month residency at G.A.S.

Last month we reached another exciting milestone with the completion of our first three residencies. The occasion was celebrated with a Resident's Presentation during which G.A.S. Fellowship recipients Femi Johnson and Uzor Ugoala, and TURN2 recipient Lynhan Balatbat-Helbock shared highlights from their experience with guests from Lagos and the wider Nigerian creative and cultural community.

Multidisciplinary Nigerian artist Ofem Ubi joins us this August after receiving the inaugural G.A.S. Fellowship. We asked him to tell us more about his practice and how he hopes the opportunity might shape future creative projects.

Guest Projects Digital and Yinka Shonibare Foundation announced Chiizii as the recipient of a new pilot Digital Research Residency in June 2022. The initiative was conceived with the intention of providing an emerging, UK-based African and/or Caribbean diaspora curator or artist, with an opportunity to lead a collaborative research project investigating the intersection of art and design, ecology and food or migration and identity.

The themes and concept were inspired by the two unique buildings that lie at the heart of Guest Artists Space, the newly launched residency project in Nigeria developed by Yinka Shonibare CBE RA. The three-month residency was segmented into a two-month research period followed by a one-month digital public-facing programme.

Femi Johnson is a Director and Producer working in the fields of arts and culture and its future in the context of Digital Adoption moving into a web3.0 meta world. He is also one of the seven artists who received the G.A.S. Fellowship Award 2022, we asked for insight into how he has found the experience so far.