UFUOMA ESSI
b. 1995, United KingdomUfuoma Essi is a London-based artist working primarily with film and moving image as well as installation and sound. She is known particularly for her filmmaking, which weaves together archival footage, found materials, and newly shot imagery to disrupt and expand the boundaries of historical narratives. Her work, exhibited at leading institutions including The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), focuses on re-centering the lived experiences, memory, and resilience of Black women—often drawing from Black feminist epistemology and the personal histories that fuel her moving image works.
Early Years
Born in Lewisham, southeast London in 1995, Ufuoma Essi’s upbringing in a vibrant and diverse community profoundly informs her artistic lens. She studied History at University College London (2014–2018) and spent a formative year at the University of Pennsylvania (2016–2017). There, Essi immersed herself in the Black art and film culture of Philadelphia, an experience that expanded her approach and led to hands-on filmmaking. Returning to London, Essi continued to experiment with filmmaking and moving image through collaborative projects and programs such as the REcreative Film School at the South London Gallery, which played a pivotal role in her artistic development.
She continues to live and work in southeast London, producing films that confront the gaps in mainstream archives. Her work often explores transgenerational histories and collective memory, employing an array of visual materials from VHS tapes to analogue film.
The Archive
Essi notes that official archives and institutions often privilege particular histories, leaving others overlooked or excluded. In response, she reclaims these marginalised narratives of Black life by crafting films that intertwine personal memories, recovered visual material, and the voices of Black feminist thinkers and performers. Through this practice, Essi reimagines the archive as a living, inclusive space that challenges what is preserved and remembered.
Select Public Commissions
- 2025: Projects: Ufuoma Essi, solo exhibition, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. Essi’s first major solo exhibition at MoMA, showcasing new and recent moving image works that explore Black feminist histories and collective memory.
- 2023: Is My Living in Vain, Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery, Auckland; Le Magasin CNAC, Grenoble. A widely toured presentation, Is My Living in Vain brought Essi’s exploration of the Black church as a site of community, resistance, and spirituality to audiences in New Zealand and France.
- 2022: Is My Living in Vain, Gasworks, London. Essi’s critically praised solo at Gasworks premiered her immersive video installation, examining intergenerational Black women’s experiences within gospel music and spiritual space.
- 2022: Solo Exhibition, Public Gallery, London. This solo exhibition featured a selection of Essi’s works devoted to redefining the Black female narrative in Britain through film and archival processes.
- 2021: Solo Exhibition, South London Gallery, London. As a culmination of Essi’s residency at South London Gallery, this solo display highlighted her innovative techniques combining analogue and digital film with historical research.
- 2021: Group Exhibition, Lisson Gallery, London. Showcased alongside other contemporary artists, Essi participated in a group exhibition at the renowned Lisson Gallery, contributing to wider conversations on race, memory, and representation.
- 2021: 17th Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival, Berwick Upon-Tweed. Essi’s work featured in this international film festival, drawing attention to her nuanced approach to archival material and multilayered narratives.
- 2020: Black Star Film Festival, Philadelphia. Her moving image works were screened at this prominent festival dedicated to films by Black, Brown, and Indigenous artists from around the world, marking an early international recognition of her practice.
Further Reading
You can read more about Ufomo Essi at the artist’s website here, or at MoMA’s Website here, where an interview between Ocula contributor Tendai Mutambu and the artist can be accessed.
Ufuoma Essi FAQs
Where can I see Ufuoma Essi’s work?
Essi’s work has been shown in Projects: Ufuoma Essi at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York (22 May 22 to 14 October 2025). Her works have also recently been exhibited at Gasworks, London; Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery, Auckland; and Le Magasin CNAC, Grenoble. Selections of her films have screened at the South London Gallery, Public Gallery (London), and internationally at events including the Black Star Film Festival in Philadelphia. You can follow the artist on Ocula to keep up to date with upcoming shows.
What themes does Ufuoma Essi explore in her work?
Essi’s practice addresses memory, identity, and history, drawing on Black feminist theory and the archives of transgenerational Black experience. She often works with found footage, historical archives, and oral history to disrupt dominant visual narratives and bring overlooked histories to the forefront.
Has Ufuoma Essi received any notable awards or residencies?
Yes. Essi was selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries in 2020, took part in Syllabus VI (an artist development program), and served as the tenth Postgraduate Artist in Residence at the South London Gallery (2020–21), culminating in a solo exhibition.
What is her educational background?
Essi holds a degree in History from University College London (UCL) and studied for a year at the University of Pennsylvania, specialising in practical filmmaking and Black art culture.
What is unique about her filmmaking approach?
Her films frequently intercut analogue and digital materials—16mm, Super 8mm, VHS, and online sources—to produce immersive narrative installations rooted in both collective and personal memory. She is noted for her rhythmic editing style and capacity to create new archives from marginal histories.
Where does she live and work now?
Essi is based in southeast London.
Ocula | 2025
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