Sculptor Olu Amoda
By Stephanie Lloyd
DULUTH, Ga. | Sculptor Olu Amoda of Smyrna has been named the 2022 Hudgens Prize recipient, with a cash award of $50,000 and a solo exhibition at the Jacqueline Casey Hudgens Center for Art and Learning in 2023. Born in Warri, Nigeria, Amoda earned a Masters of Fine Arts from Georgia Southern University in 2009, and has since made Georgia his home.
Amoda describes his work as a social construct that emerged from the dialogue of objects, their materiality, and repurposing them to create hybrids of familiar subjects intuitively from life experiences.
When receiving the prestigious Hudgens Prize, Amoda responded: “I would like to congratulate the other finalists for their exquisite body of work. The Hudgens Prize finalists’ exhibition’s strength is in the diversity of artistic expression, and it is a great honor and privilege to share the same platform. This prize, in its true sense, is a winning prize for all visual artists in America.”
An exhibition featuring work from all four finalists continues through October 15 at the Hudgens Center. The other Hudgens Prize finalists were Shanequa Gay, Jessica Self and Jamele Wright.
The purpose of the Hudgens Prize competition is to elevate and promote the arts in Georgia while offering a transformational opportunity for the winning artist. The Hudgens Prize was last awarded in 2019 to Paul Stephen Benjamin. He continues to receive nationwide recognition following receipt of the Hudgens Prize award and his solo exhibition at the Hudgens in 2020, including a recent exhibition, Black Form, at Davidson College’s Van Every/Smith Galleries .
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