Evan Ifekoya

Evan Ifekoya (b. 1988) is an interdisciplinary artist who explores the politicisation of culture, society and aesthetics. Their artistic practice involves taking appropriated material from historical archives and contemporary society to construct the work with text, sound and video. By ‘queerying’ popular imagery and utilising the props of everyday life, the aim is to destroy the aura of preciousness surrounding art. Central to this artwork is an exploration into the ways that collaboration might take place.

With a critical approach to technology, aspects of how it mediates our lives permeate throughout Ifekoya’s work. Their performance is approached with the same sensibility by including elements of how we express ourselves digitally today. Social media and mobile technology act as co-performers in the live event. Evan Ifekoya was a participating artist in the Framer Framed group exhibition Embodied Spaces in 2015, curated by Christine Eyene.

Ifekoya had their first major solo exhibition at Gasworks London and became part of the sound system collective that emerged out of it – Black Obsidian Sound System. In January 2018, they opened a solo exhibition of A Score, A Groove, A phantom, A Congregation at De Appel, Amsterdam and Drowning in a sea of data at La Casa Encendida, a group show curated by Joao Laia. Recent work has been presented at: Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridgeshire; New Art Exchange, Nottingham and Spike Island, Bristol (2017); Transmission Gallery, Glasgow; London; and Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town (2016). Recent performances have taken place at Serpentine Galleries, London and Whitstable Biennial 2016.

They also completed an artist residency at Somerset House, researching archives of blackness related to sound, politics and social life. Born in Nigeria, Ifekoya lives and works in London, United Kingdom.