16 Facts About Uche Okeke

Christopher Uchefuna Okeke, known as Uche Okeke, was an illustrator, painter, sculptor, and teacher.

Uche Okeke was an art and aesthetic theorist, seminal to Nigerian modernism.

Christopher Uchefuna Okeke was born on 30 April 1933 in Nimo, Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State, located in the southeastern region of Nigeria, to Isaac Okonkwo Okeke and Monica Mgboye Okeke.

In school, Uche Okeke studied the Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa ethnic groups, looking for a way to express his Nigerian self.

In 1971, Uche Okeke Okoke joined the Department of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka as a professor.

Uche Okeke was first exposed to Igbo folktales as a child and later used them as inspiration in his art.

Uche Okeke explains how colors are used and where they come from.

Uche Okeke was influenced by his mother, who created Uli designs, and believed that drawing and line-work were fundamental to his career as an artist.

Uche Okeke opened a cultural centre at 30 Ibadan Street, Kafanchan, which later became the Asele Institute, Nimo, where among other cultural activities a part of the Smithsonian Institution-sponsored educational film Nigerian Art - Kindred Spirits was shot in 1996.

The institute contains a collection of artifacts, objects, and artwork from friends Uche Okeke acquired during his travels to different parts of Nigeria.

Uche Okeke was appointed lecturer and acting head of Fine Arts Department at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, from 1971 to 1985.

Uche Okeke transformed their curriculum to have more of a focus on African indigenous art and design which he believed would benefit the development of modern and contemporary African Art.

Uche Okeke was the director of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka, a visiting professor to the Department of Creative Arts, University of Port Harcourt, Honorary Deputy Director-General of International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, among numerous other engagements with many educational and cultural institutions.

That Uche Okeke carried the Uli experiment beyond the walls of Zaria and stood in the forefront of its transformation into a modern idiom in the 1970s, from the studios at Nsukka was original.

Uche Okeke is a leading figure in the history of modern African Art.

Uche Okeke died on 5 January 2016 in his native home at Nimo at the age of 82.