By Chukwuma Ajakah

Nigeria’s visual artist, Chigozie Stephen Osuchukwu, has made a striking impression on the global art scene, emerging as the overall winner of the 2025 Qatar International Art Fair competition’s live painting event, where over 500 talented artists from 70 countries showcased their skills from December 7-12, 2025.

Stephen Osuchukwu’s winning entry, ‘Diversity Unites Us,’ is a poignant charcoal on canvas drawing featuring children from diverse cultural backgrounds. The artwork combines black and white charcoal with touches of color, capturing the beauty of unity in diversity. Osuchukwu drew inspiration from his interactions with people from different countries and tribes, reflecting on the importance of connection and understanding. He incorporated personal references, including images of Nigerian children and an Arab costume, to create a vibrant and meaningful piece.

The live painting event featured countries, such as the USA. Russia, South Korea, Spain, Ukraine, India, and Nigeria with some of the countries like the host country, Qatar represented by about seven artists.

The competition’s prize pool showcased the event’s prestige, with the first-place winner, Chigozie Stephen Osuchukwu, taking home QRA 3,500 (approximately N315,000 or $400 USD). The first runner-up, Luiz Alavn Harrera of Spain, received QRA 2,500 (around N225,000 or $280 USD), while Chol Dong-hwa of South Korea, the second runner-up, won QRA 1,500 (about N135,000 or $170 USD).

Following a WhatsApp interview with Vanguard on December 24, the winner, Stephen Osuchukwu, shared his thoughts on the win: ‘The news of my winning came to me as a pleasant surprise. There were lots of artists with lovely compositions. I had risked everything, applying through an open space and was just doing my thing, happy to participate in the event.”‘

According to the organizers, the participating artists  displayed a wide range of artistic mediums and techniques at  the festival and  the top six performers were selected with  the 4th to 6th prize winners each receiving QRA 1,000 (N 399, 242 000 or USD 275). The winners are:

Silvio Duarte Da Silva (Brazil)4th place, Luz Esmeralda Torres de Deike (Germany) 5th place, and Fatima de la Luz Olea  (USA) 6th place.

Vanguard learnt from  the Qatar Artists Forum that the event featured many other activities, including master classes, workshops, panel discussions, and cultural tours, focused on the theme, “Sustainability and Innovation in Art”. The major highlight of the arts fiesta was the live painting session, where the contestants painted in real-time, creating fascinating pieces that mirrored the festival’s theme.

Another engaging scenic session was the panel discussion tagged, “Artificial Intelligence to Artificial General Intelligence: Shaping Art, Culture, Creativity, and Society”.

In collaboration with Al Babie House, QIAF hosted a prestigious auction featuring an exclusive collection of artworks by globally acclaimed artists, generating significant interest among bidders and art connoisseurs.

The art fiesta brought together artists, art enthusiasts, collectors, and creatives, fostering connections and inspiration for like minded creatives, who converged to share, discover, and appreciate art.