Nengi Omuku (b. 1987) is a Nigerian artist who received her BA and MA at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London. Omuku’s work is inspired by the politics of the body, with a focus on interiority and the workings of the mind.
Her exquisite figurative oil paintings tackle subjects related to the human body and the ways people adapt to maintain a feeling of identity. Omuku’s saturated figures, which are profoundly soaked in identity and difference, are delicately painted on traditional West African fabrics like sanyan and aso oke. This heritage cloth was originally created from woven threads of wild moth silk, blended with cotton. The display of work is intentional as it showcases the richness of traditional West African weaving as well as the oil painting. For Omuku, this blend speaks to living between cultures, yet firmly contextualizing er work within her local setting in Nigeria. The figures presented on the works, which are depicted both in community and isolation, demonstrate the artist’s continued interest in concepts of otherness.
Image courtesy of Elephant
Through colour, Nengi Omuku explores the idea that the human figure can be transformed based on the premise that things can look a certain way but can also be otherwise. Liberation from the physical form has led her into new territory, a moment-by-moment expression of beings that have been transformed from their present reality, reanimated through color and markings.
Nengi Omuku wants to portray pictures of beings that move through active spaces and that aspire to become events in and of themselves. She typically investigates interactions, or what happens when several forms collide. The scape, in particular the escapism the bodies inhabit, is another component of her work.
Image courtesy of Elephant
She has had solo and group exhibitions in the UK and Nigeria. Currently, Omuku lives and works in Nigeria. Her artistic practice has won her scholarships and awards, including the British Council CHOGM art award presented by Queen Elizabeth II.
She was a Year 3 artist in residence at Kehinde Wiley’s Black Rock Residency in Dakar, Senegal, and has been championed by Katy Hessel in The Great Women Artists. Solo exhibitions include those at the Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London and Berlin (2020-21); Stages of Collapse, September Gray, Atlanta (2017); and A State of Mind, Omenka Gallery, Lagos (2015). Recent group exhibitions include Dissolving Realms, curated by Katy Hessel, at Kasmin Gallery, New York (2022); Self-Addressed, curated by Kehinde Wiley at Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles (2021); The Invincible Hands, Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art, Lagos (2021); Karim Kal and Nengi Omuku, La Galerie, Contemporary Art Center, Noisy-le-Sec (2021); and Dancing in Dark Times, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London (2021).
Image courtesy of Womens Art
