Contemporary African Art Exhibition Series

OBIAGELI OKIGBO

 “Building upon a fundamentally architectonic understanding of the world; light, rhythm, geometry & enclosure, my work attempts to assemble 'poems' or 'connections' of perception which permits the language of representation to engage with issues of transience, memory, history, rites...

I am interested in archetypes: "primordial mental image inherited by all." I am looking for points of convergence... constants. I look to Mythology, Nature and Science; they exist in every culture but with timeless themes. Myths are "clues" to the spiritual potentialities of the human life.

The source of my interventions is this shared potentiality.

The outcome –drawings, paintings, installations- represent tentative solutions. But, like archeological maps, reveal through its layers; the passage of time, history, movement, traces, imprints
”

Obiageli Okigbo was born in Ibadan Nigeria in 1964, studied in Nigeria then graduated from Oxford Brooks University with a BA in Architecture and pursued her post-graduate studies at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, London. She practiced architecture in London, Rome and Paris until 1994. In 1995 she moved to Brussels where she lives with her two children Sofia and Luca.

Expanding her reach into the visual arts, she began developing her work on a theoretical level through painting and has consequently exhibited in Nigeria, United Kingdom and Belgium including two major solo exhibitions in Lagos, 2003 and London, 2007. She established the Christopher Okigbo Foundation in 2005, which is tasked with researching and preserving the legacy of Christopher Okigbo, poet (1932-1967).

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

Solo Exhibition; Tapping into the Known, Brunei gallery, School of Oriental & African Studies, London   2007
Conflict Culture: Exhibition/Colloquium (L-ARN/M.A.P initiative) Brussels, Belgium   2006
Established the Christopher Okigbo Foundation; Brussels, NY and Ojoto   2005
Two woman show; ‘mythological landscapes’ at Espace Alizees, Brussels, Belgium   2004
Solo Exhibition; ‘Tapping into the known’ at the Nimbus Arts Center, Lagos, Nigeria   2003
Group exhibition at the 7th International Group Show and Art Festival, at the National Museum, Enugu, Nigeria   2002
Installation for exhibition; 'Viva la muerte! , at the International Festival of Music, Couleur Cafe, Brussels, Belgium   2001
Group exhibition; 'Des Elles des Femmes’, at the Centre Culturel d'Etterbeek - Espace Senghor, Brussels, Belgium   2001
National Museum, Enugu, Nigeriam   1996
Didi Museum, Lagos, Nigeria Collective exhibition; ‘Songs for Idoto’, including; El Anatsui, Uche Okeke, Bruce Onobrakpeya & Obiora Udechukwu   1997


PUBLICATIONS

NKA Journal of contemporary African Art: 21st Century and the mega-shows-A Curator’s Roundtable   2008
Fathers and Daughters; An anthology of exploration, edited by Ato Quayson, Ayebia Clarke publishing   2008
BBC Focus on Africa   2007