[Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.] As the press release from the Mondriaan Fonds announced, Curaçaoan visual artist Kevin Osepa was presented with the Prix de Rome for Visual Arts during an award ceremony on December 17, 2025 for his new work Lusgarda, in the framework of his entire oeuvre. Also during this ceremony, the publication Prix de Rome Visual Arts 2025 was launched, published by the Mondriaan Fund in collaboration with Jap Sam Books.
The new works by the four artists who competed for the 2025 Prix de Rome— Fiona Lutjenhuis, Kevin Osepa, Thierry Oussou, and Buhlebezwe Siwani— will be on display until March 15, 2026, at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (located at Museumplein 10, 1071 DJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands). See excerpts from the Mondriaan Fonds press released below, preceded by an explanatory note by Peter Jordens.
Note by Peter Jordens: The Ocho Dia Afro-Curaçaoan funerary ritual (wake) that is referenced in Kevin Osepa’s Lusgarda is known as Nine-Night in the English-speaking Caribbean; in Jamaica it is also known as Dead Yard.
Press Release (Mondriaan Fonds): Visual artist Kevin Osepa was presented with the Prix de Rome for Visual Arts today by State Secretary Becking (Education, Culture and Science). Osepa won the award for his new work Lusgarda, taking into account his entire oeuvre. The artist will receive a €60,000 contribution. The Prix de Rome is an incentive award for talented visual artists who convincingly offer new insights into the visual arts in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and contribute notably to its development.
Lusgarda is a total installation that Osepa created especially for the Prix de Rome. It highlights the disappearing ritual of Ocho Dia, the eight-day mourning period after a funeral on his native island of Curaçao. A work that ‘overwhelms and moves,’ according to the jury in their report. ‘Lusgarda is a vibrant work that elevates both the recognizable and the concealed to a higher poetic level.’ The jury recognises Osepa as an artist with a highly distinctive visual language who has developed rapidly in both terms of narrative and expression, and continues to surpass himself: ‘In Lusgarda, all elements intertwine. Like a director, the artist empowers his collaborators, revalues a culture, and simultaneously delivers a work of great technical refinement while remaining true to his own narrative. The jury believes that with this work, and his strongly developed oeuvre, Osepa can stand alongside artists of international stature and represents a major promise for the future.’
Kevin Osepa’s Lusgarda explores individual and collective mourning, as well as the preservation of a tradition on the verge of fading away. Drawing on archival sources on Ocho Dia, Kevin Osepa has created an immersive experience that carries a kaleidoscope of layers of meaning. Some codes reveal themselves immediately, while others remain concealed. The jury believes that the inexplicable element is one of the work’s greatest strengths. With his contemporary interpretation of Ocho Dia, Osepa has created a deeply personal work that simultaneously speaks to universal emotions surrounding grief and the erosion of traditions. The jury sees a work that is expansive, cohesive and dramatic: ‘Through the use of everyday household objects, handmade dolls and a powerful film, the audience is drawn into an alternative reality. Osepa does not shy away from exuberant emotion or physicality.’ [. . .]
Prix de Rome: The Prix de Rome is the incentive award for emerging visual artists from the Netherlands and the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. The prize is awarded once every 2 years with the aim of stimulating the development of highly talented visual artists and to boost their visibility, thereby ensuring that the visual art field remains topical. The Mondriaan Fund has organised and financed the award since 2012. The exhibition is being organised in collaboration with the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. [. . .]
Kevin Osepa (1994, Willemstad) is a visual artist and filmmaker. His work focuses on Afro-Caribbean spirituality, identity and colonial memory, often addressed from a personal and queer perspective. Osepa uses photography, video and installations to create worlds in which suppressed knowledge and rituals are given new life.
For full press release, see https://www.mondriaanfonds.nl/en/actueel/nieuwsbrieven/press-release-winner-prix-de-rome
For more on the exhibition, see https://www.stedelijk.nl/en/exhibitions/EN-prix-de-rome-2025.
Follow Kevin Osepa at https://www.instagram.com/kevinisburning
[Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.] As the press release from the Mondriaan Fonds announced, Curaçaoan visual artist Kevin Osepa was presented with the Prix de Rome for Visual Arts during an award ceremony on December 17, 2025 for his new work Lusgarda, in the framework of his entire