Otobong Nkanga. Foto: Wolfgang Guenzel Otobong Nkanga
Otobong Nkanga (b. 1974) is a visual artist and live performer born in Kano, Nigeria. Through her art, Nkanga explores themes of environment and landscape, influenced by social and topographical changes – all taking into account a postcolonial dimension. Her works take the form of tapestries, drawing, photography, installations, sculpture, video and performance.
Nkanga began her art studies at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile- Ife, Nigeria and continued at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France. She was in the residency program at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam, NL. In 2008 she obtained her Masters in the Performing Arts at Dasarts, Amsterdam. In 2012, she gave a performance at the book launch Changing Perspectives & UNFIXED in 2012, organised in collaboration with Framer Framed and Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam (SMBA).
Nkanga has exhibited widely and internationally. Her shows include: Animism, Extra City Kunsthal and M HKA Museun van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerpen, Belgium,[2010]. Diagonal Views,Nieuwe Vide, Haarlem, The Netherlands,[2009]. Re/presentaciones: ellas, Casa Africa,Las Palmas Gran Canaria,[2008]. Flow, Studio Museum Harlem, New York [2008]. Africa remix, Toured Paris, Düsseldorf, Tokyo, Johannesburg and Stockholm; Snap judgments: New Positions in African Contemporary Photography, toured New York, Miami, Mexico, Canada and the Netherlands; and over the course of the last five years, she participated in the Sharjah, Taipei, Dakar, São Paulo, Havanna and Sydney Biennials.
She received a Special Mention at the 58th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia and was awarded the 2015 Yanghyun Prize and the 2017 Belgian Art Prize, and in 2019 was the recipient of the Ultimas-Flemish Prize for culture.
Nkanga is currently based in Antwerp.
