Otobong Nkanga

Otobong Nkanga is a contemporary artist living and working in Antwerp, Belgium. Born in 1974 in, Nkanga is known for her drawings, installations, sculptures, photography, and performances, in which she analyzes the social and topographical relationship with our everyday environment.

Doing so, she provokes narratives and stories connected to the land, the environment, our memory, and the postcolonial history of her home country, Nigeria.[1] “Land” as a notion is a pivotal aspect of her oeuvre and often a starting point from which she builds up her works. Therefore, Nkanga succeeds in challenging complex topics such as politics, geographies, material culture, and the historical structure carrying these topics, physically as a place and metaphysically as an embedded idea, raising questions about cultural inheritance, use, appropriation, and identity.[2]

Since the new millennium, Otobong Nkanga has been exhibiting across the world. She has had exhibitions in Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Italy, Belgium, South Africa, Ireland, Denmark, France, Lebanon, The Netherlands, the Republic of Congo, Morocco, Switzerland, Sweden, and more. Her work has been included in group exhibitions by major institutions such as the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019, the Sharjah Biennial 14 in 2019, the National Museum of Cardiff in 2018, the Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain (MAMAC), Nice in 2018, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art in 2018, Documenta 14 in Kassel in 2017, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in 2017, Pirelli Hangarbicoca Milan in 2017, The European Biennial of Contemporary Art, Amsterdam in 2018, the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2016 or the 13th Biennale de Lyon in 2015.[3]

Works by Otobong Nkanga feature in major public and private collections such as Studio Museum Harlem, Museum of Contemporary Art, Nevada Museum of Art (NMA), Rabo Art Collection (Rabobank), Weltkulturen Museum, FRAC Lorraine, Queensland Art Gallery Gallery of Modern Art, Kadist Art Foundation, Mu.ZEE Oostende, Museum Folkwang, AkzoNobel Collection, Société Genérale Art Collection, Centre National des Arts Plastiques CNAP, Centre Pompidou Paris, FRAC Corse, Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen (M HKA), Robeco Art Collection, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Fondation Sindika Dokolo, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Zwolle, Stedelijk Museum Arnhem, Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Tate Modern London and the Sharjah Art Foundation.[4] Nkanga features in our article The Most Influential Artists Today.[5]

Artworks

Notes:

[1] Artsy, Otobong Nkanga at https://www.artsy.net/artist/otobong-nkanga consulted 17/09/2020.
[2] Otobong Nkanga, Otobong Nkanga at https://www.otobong-nkanga.com consulted 17/09/2020.
[3] Mendes Wood DM, Otobong Nkanga at https://mendeswooddm.com/en/artist/otobong-nkanga/about consulted 24/11/2020.
[4] Ibid. note 3.
[5] Artfacts, Otobong Nkanga at https://artfacts.net/artist/otobong-nkanga/26206 consulted 24/11/2020.

Last Updated on October 25, 2023