Nigerian multidisciplinary artist, Otobong Nkanga is now represented by Lisson Gallery and will have her first solo show at Lisson in 2024. The gallery has locations in New York, London, Shanghai, and Beijing and Nkanga will be creating a new tapestry for “Matter as Actor,” an upcoming group show at Lisson’s two London locations. According to Nkanga, “Getting to know the gallery, I understood how committed the team are, and I know they will take care of the work and that will also grow with me and listen to me. I think that aspect of listening—not only listening to the artist, but to what the work does and where it’s going—is so important. I think Lisson is the gallery I need for my work.”
Otobong Nkanga works across various disciplines, including tapestry, installation, photography, and more. Her practice is grounded in research and explores ecological issues and their link to socio political realities. Through her work, Nkanga draws attention to the often overlooked connections between these complex systems. Through her works, Nkanga explores the social and topographical connections between humanity and our everyday surroundings. She delves into the concept of land as a place non-belonging and offers a fresh perspective on the social connotations of identity. Paradoxically Nkanga’s practice brings to surface the historical impact caused by humans and nature. She presents the intricacies of resources such as soil and earth and their potential value with the aim of creating stories connected to the land.
Nkanga’s works have been showcased globally in exhibitions at notable galleries including the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark, Paris’s Centre Pompidou, and the Haus de Kunst in Munich. She has had major solo exhibitions at the Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria, the Castello di Rivoli in Turin, Villa Arson in France, Gropius Bau in Berlin, and the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town. Nkanga has also featured in the 2019 Venice Biennale, Documenta 14 in 2017, the 2019 Sharjah Biennial, the 2015 Biennale of Lyon, the 2014 Berlin Biennale, and most recently the 2022 Busan Biennale, among others. In 2019, she won the Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award Programme, which includes a cash prize of $100,000 and a solo exhibition at the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter Museum in Norway.
