Nnenna Okore’s intricate works contain rich textures, and reveal extraordinary manifestations of colour and formations, often resembling organic elements in nature, such as roots, veins, and flora. Each visceral sculpture is created through various repetitive and labour-intensive processes, like teasing, twisting, dyeing and sewing, applied to natural materials such as cheesecloth, burlap and paper.
Read MoreOkore is a Professor of Art at North Park University, Chicago. She has a BA in Painting from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and both an MA and MFA from the University of Iowa. Okore first showed at October Gallery in 2008. She is a 2012 Fulbright Award recipient and has exhibited internationally. Her works have been featured in several important exhibitions such as Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, USA; We Face Forward, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK; Africa Africans, Museu Afro Brasil, Sao Paulo, Brazil; and When the Heavens Meet the Earth, The Heong Gallery, Cambridge, UK. In 2018, her major installation Sheer Audacity, was exhibited at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, USA. Her work is in many international collections, including the World Bank, Washington DC, USA; Newark Museum, New Jersey, USA; Fondation Blachere, France; and the Embassy of the United States, Abuja, Nigeria.
Text courtesy October Gallery.
