35 Facts About Nnenna Okore

Nnenna Okore learnt some of her intricate methods, including weaving, sewing, rolling, twisting and dyeing, by watching local Nigerians perform daily domestic tasks.

Nnenna Okore's work has been shown in galleries and museums within and outside of the United States.

Nnenna Okore has won several international awards, including a Fulbright Scholar Award in 2012.

Nnenna Okore is currently a Professor of Art at North Park University in Chicago, where she runs the sculpture program.

Nnenna Okore was born in Canberra, Australia to parents from Uturu, Abia State in the southeastern region of Nigeria.

Nnenna Okore was raised a Christian and though not exposed to traditional Igbo practices early in life, she later reconnected with the cultural elements from her Igbo heritage.

Nnenna Okore's art was influenced by visual characteristics of the Nsukka environs, such as dilapidated mud adobe houses with zinc roofing, piles of firewood accumulated against a broken structure, traditional clothing, concrete blocks, market wares, and rugged terrains.

Nnenna Okore was especially enamored by the red-coloured Nsukka soil that characteristically left traces of red dust on most things.

Nnenna Okore drew lots of creative inspirations and material sensibilities from their cultural and social landscapes.

Nnenna Okore attended the University of Nigeria Nsukka Primary School, the University of Nigeria Nsukka Secondary School, and the Waterford Kamhlaba United World College in Swaziland for high school.

Nnenna Okore was selected as Nigerian female youth ambassador for the Fourth World Conferences on Women in Beijing, China, which platformed many international female celebrities and leaders from across the globe.

In 1995, Nnenna Okore enrolled in the Fine and Applied Arts undergraduate program at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Nnenna Okore was heavily influenced by Arte Povera whose experiential style appeals strongly to her visual narrative.

Nnenna Okore received a bachelor's degree in fine and applied arts from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1999, with first-class honors.

Two years later, Nnenna Okore relocated to the United States for a masters of fine arts program at the University of Iowa, which she completed in 2005.

Nnenna Okore has an interdisciplinary Fine Arts PhD degree, which she received in 2023 from Monash University.

Nnenna Okore is presently a Professor of Art and instructs students in Three-dimensional Designs, Sculptural Practices, Video Art, and Drawing, among other subjects.

Nnenna Okore maintains a robust studio practice while being a mother of three.

Nnenna Okore has participated in over 120 solo and group shows combined, across local and international venues in Asia, Europe, North America, Africa, and the far east.

Nnenna Okore has been featured in publications, such as Sculpture Magazine, The New York Times, Financial Times, Art South Africa, Ceramics: Art and Perception, and The Guardian, among others.

In 2012, Nnenna Okore received a Fulbright Scholar Award, which enabled her to travel to Nigeria for a year-long teaching project at the University of Lagos.

Nnenna Okore returned to the United States after completing her project in 2013.

Nnenna Okore is a recipient of the 2021 Australian Creative Victoria Creators Fund Award.

Nnenna Okore's works have been featured in important exhibitions at the Museum of Art and Design, The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Museum of Contemporary African Diasporic Art, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Museu Afro Brasil, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, Musee des Civilizations Noires, and Cleveland Museum of Art.

Nnenna Okore's towering installation titled, 'And the World Keeps Turning' was on view at the 2021 Brugge Triennale, Belgium.

Nnenna Okore has featured in the Stoa 169 Columned Hall exhibition in Polling, Germany, the 'Invincible Hands' at the Yemi Shyllon Museum of Art, Lagos, and 2021 Chengdu Biennale in Chengdu, China.

Rather than being stifled by the ephemerality of materials like discarded newspapers or wax, Nnenna Okore turned her focus to their sculptural potentialities instead.

Nnenna Okore tends to feature organic, fibrous, malleable, and ethereal qualities of materials in her works.

Burlap which Nnenna Okore uses for its transient and delicate features, is featured in her fiber art works.

Nnenna Okore uses a "flora" motif or symbols repeatedly throughout her work to capture themes of death and fragility, as well as the essence of rebirth.

Nnenna Okore captures the diverse and tactile aspects of the physical world through weathered, dilapidated and lifeless forms.

Nnenna Okore's works are inspired by traditional women's crafts in Africa such as textiles.

Nnenna Okore engages in a slow, arduous process of weaving, dyeing, winding, and teasing materials like burlap, wire, and paper, sometimes sourced from West Africa, to create dramatic textile installations.

Nnenna Okore seeks to catalyze interconnections between human and nonhuman subjects in ways that go beyond simply extending her material practice with waste to calling attention to sustainable living.

Nnenna Okore regularly takes trips home to Nigeria, as a way of staying connected to her Nigerian memories of the environment and culture that inspires much of her work.