Nigerian painter, Njideka Akunyili Crosby and daughter of former Nigerian minister Dora Akunyili, has been awarded the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship.

The MacArthur Fellowship, also referred to as the Genius Grant, awards $625,000 to artists, writers, teachers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and people from all works of life who have shown exceptional creativity.

The grant is doled out in instalments, made over a period of five years.

Amongst past recipients is writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who received the grant in 2008.

Crosby was described by the foundation as “a figurative painter whose large-scale works express the hybridity characteristic of transnational experience through choices of subject matter, materials, and techniques.”

She says she draws experience from her life as a cosmopolitan Nigerian woman who lives and works in the United States.