On Friday, King Charles III has released the New Year Honours List 2023, recognizing those in the UK who have demonstrated exemplary service or achievements in their fields. Ghanian-Scottish architect, academic, and novelist Lesley Lokko is among those who have been named an Office of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to architecture and education. In December 2021, Lesley Lokko was announced as the Curator of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, which will be held from Saturday, 20 May to Sunday, 26 November 2023.
“More than ever, architectural education matters, and I’m deeply touched by this recognition” – Lesley Lokko.
Founder of the Graduate School of Architecture in 2015 in Johannesburg and the Africa Future Institute, in 2021 in Accra, Lesley Lokko is a renowned educator with several teaching positions worldwide, most notably in Johannesburg, London, Accra, and Edinburgh. Through her teaching, she raises awareness of important themes such as cultural and racial identity, the common culture of cities, and the path to embracing diversity.
Her position in the contemporary debate on architecture is informed by her own experience living in a “continent that is increasingly becoming a laboratory of experimentation and proposals for the whole contemporary world,” as recognized by Roberto Cicutto, President of La Biennale di Venezia. The same experience and Lokko's work on “Africa as the lab for the future” have influenced the choice of title for this edition of the Venice Biennale Exhibition: The Laboratory of the Future. The theme will consider the African continent as the protagonist of the future, as the “one place where all these questions of equity, race, hope, and fear converge and coalesce.”
Following the annual tradition, King Charles III’s New Year Honours List features more than 1,100 people from across the country, including politicians, musicians, athletes, and environmental activists. Other laureates in the field of architecture include Inderpaul Singh Johar, co-founder of Dark Matters Laboratories; Professor Pamela Pamela Beaumont Robertson, FRSE, curator of The Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow; and Kathleen Elizabeth Maclean, a trustee at the Architectural Heritage Fund.
