London

The prize for Johncross Omeke, the young winner of Mirror the Master was a trip to London with visits to Marlborough House, the British Museum, SOAS Brunei Gallery, The Arc Floating Gallery & Buckingham Palace as guest of HM the Queen.
This was a trip beyond his wildest imagination. Johncross, a public sector schoolboy from a small village in eastern Nigeria, traveling to London, to Buckingham Palace, invited by HM the Queen. The extremities were great but he took it in his stride and enjoyed every minute, inspiring the documentary “Dreams from My Village”.
Johncross enjoyed London. He went to London Bridge, Big Ben, the London Eye. He played in Hyde Park, used an iconic red phone box, watched the changing of the guard, peered down 10 Downing Street, posed in Trafalgar square by Yinka Shonibare’s “Message in a Bottle”. He loved Covent Garden, traveling on the tube, eating in KFC. His discipline and humility were striking. In all the places visited, people were touched by his few words and respectful attitude. He was an excellent young ambassador for Nigeria. 
His visit to the British Museum became quite emotional when he came face to face with the Queen Idia mask, the theme behind his winning art piece. Next was a visit to Marlborough House where he was shown Chinwe Roy’s portrait of HM The Queen; then a trip to Brunei Gallery, SOAS and special guest at the Arc floating gallery before his visit to Buckingham Palace. 
The visit started with the private viewing of a collection of Ben Enwonwu’s work, transported from the Royal Collection to the palace. He was then taken on a tour of Buckingham Palace where he witnessed priceless pieces including works by Rubens, Van Dyck, Hogarth, Canaletto amongst many. It was truly humbling. At the end of the visit, Johncross presented two paintings to the Royal Curator who accepted them into the Royal Collection. 
Johncross was then a special guest of the Nigerian High Commissioner to the UK. There was a lavish reception and press conference recognising his unique achievement. A summary of the tour can be seen in the documentary “Dreams from my Village”