Winner 2018
On Tuesday, June 5, 2018, the foundation Ondernemersbelangen Rotterdam has awarded the Henri Winkelman Award for the sixth time during the annual Creating Pioneers' Dinner. This exciting edition, organised by Willem de Kooning Academy (WdKA), has become once again an evening full of creative, innovative entrepreneurship and cooperation.
Seven alumni with seven companies had been nominated. Pioneer Nazif Lopulissa has received the Award - a cheque worth € 10.000 - for his artistic practice as Nasbami, from a professional jury, chaired by Emily Ansenk (director of Kunsthal).
My work is a utopia and a reflection of the things I miss in life.
Nazif Lopulissa has graduated from WdKA in 2016 with BA major in Illustration, Autonomous Practices. Nazif, also known as Nasbami is a 26 years old Rotterdam-based illustrator.
"When I was about five years old, I dreamed of having a turtle. My mother advised me to start drawing turtles: this way I could have as many turtles as I wanted for myself and decide how they would look like. I have followed her advice and this is my earliest memory of creating process. Visualising turtles back then - I have never received any by the way - is a symbol of the way I drive myself to draw and make. I try to capture and draw what is not there, but what, in my eyes, should exist. My work is a utopia and a reflection of the things I miss in life and by illustrating these things I create a world for myself where I can find solace. I now have a tortoise called Donnie Donnatello.
The quick pace of the modern society inspires me. Everything around us is already over before we even realise it was there and we people continue to wander further and further away from the core values in our lives because of this speed. This awareness ensures that I have come to appreciate my everyday life more. I create memories of every day and simple moments, with which I try to slow down everything that passes quickly. When I look back at my own work, I experience the entire process of creating that work again and again. I create a kind of flashback, that allows me to distance myself from everything that passes by so quickly."
Visit Nazif's website
