Website: www.redsands.de
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Women with Passion Members - Ebele
Name Ebele Okoye
Geburtsdatum 06. 10. 1969
Ort, Land (geb.) Onitsha/Nigeria
Wohnsitz Frankfurt, Germany
My Passion
Fine and Media Arts
The project:
I discovered my passion at a very tender age. This was the strong desire to study animation
or to become an animator. However, there were no animation schools in Nigeria. So I studied
Fine and Applied Arts with a specialisation in Graphics Design/Illustration.
In 1996 after a very successful exhibition, I visited Germany for 3 weeks. On getting
back home I started applying to Universities in Germany, but was only able to get a
student's Visa in 2000. On arriving here, I registered for Communication Design in Düsseldorf.
In 2003, I came across the International Film school Cologne, where I immediately
applied and was accepted for an intensive further training in 2D animation. It was a
very long hurdle but only after completing the intensive training in 2004 did I have
the feeling that my life had really begun. In the past one year, I have been able to win
two promotional prizes aimed at co-productions. It is a different challenge but I see it
as more of a fulfilment to finally be challenged in a field where I had always wanted to be.
Motivation
Faith, Positive thinking, and perseverance
Obstacles
Worth mentioning is the inability to have pursued my dreams earlier
The German Embassy in Nigeria refused me a Visa to pursue my studies for 3 years.
In Germany, there came the challenge of facing the not-so-pleasant social problems
associated with just the fact that I am dark-skinned. Prejudices and clichés which could
be emotionally tiring... but then I did not just give up!
Status and Perspectives
At the moment I can count on a contribution I am making to the cultural exchange
platforms in Germany, being fully integrated. My next Film is an animation of the
Poem “An Anna Blume” written by Kurt Schwitters, a well known German Artist, Poet and Architect.
Impact on society
In respect to my passion, I have eventually – after over 30 years - been able to
become an animator...to make animated films. It is my most passionate wish to someday be
able to lend a kind of support to other gifted children out there who are not privileged enough to
pursue their passion.
Context of my life
The youngest in a family of seven children. Born during the Nigerian/Biafra civil war of the
late 60s. Father Book Keeper, Mother; Auxilliary teacher.
Several critiques in Newspapers in Nigeria, Austria and Germany. Numerous Solo and Group
exhibitions in Nigeria, South Korea, USA, Canada, Germany and Austria
Extensive knowledge of New Media involving most digital Softwares in the area of Design,
Film Web Applications.
Motto
Everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something and has lost something. Let us not
lose life`s small joys in search of the big ones! (H. Jackson Brown Jr.)
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