1. Chinwe Ifeoma Chukwuogo-Roy MBE was a visual artist who was born in Awka, Anambra state, Nigeria, but spent much of her young life in Ikom on the Cameroon border, before moving back to the family home at Umubele in Awka.
13 Facts About Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy
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Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy won international attention in 2002 for being the first of only two Nigerian artists to have been allowed to paint official portraits of Queen Elizabeth II.
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Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy Chukwuogo was born in Ondo State, Nigeria, but moved with her family to Ikom in Cross Rivers State, where her father had extensive cocoa plantations.
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Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy gained international fame for painting the official Golden Jubilee portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, commissioned by The Commonwealth Secretariat in London.
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Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy was commissioned by Martin Keown to paint Arsenal's Highbury Stadium in London.
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In 2003, Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy represented the United Kingdom at the European Council Committee in Paris, advising on Contemporary African Art and Artists.
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Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy had many solo exhibitions including those at Christchurch Mansions, Ipswich; Ipswich Museum; The Mall Galleries, Bristol; The Royal Commonwealth Society; Reve's Cork Street Gallery, all in London; Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, both in Norwich; Aldeburgh Festival Gallery; Saatchi Gallery, both in Suffolk; and Suffolk Colchester, Connecticut University, Storrs, Connecticut; Didi Museum, Lagos; and UNESCO, Paris.
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Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy was a founder member of the renowned Sudbourne Printmakers, involving several leading Suffolk artists.
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Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy created paintings, prints, and sculptures that are predominantly figurative, in the genres of portraiture, still-life, landscape, and narrative subjects.
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Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy won many awards and was featured prominently in the international media, both for her art and for her charitable and educational work with young people.
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In 2003, Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of East Anglia.
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In 2010 Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for her contributions to art.
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Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy was afflicted throughout her life by myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disease that weakens the muscles, but still managed to travel extensively.