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BIOGRAPHY

Jebila Okongwu critiques stereotypes of Africa and of African identity while activating as counterstrategies African systems of thought, symbolism, and spirituality. He adopted banana boxes as a medium and for inspiration. Their clichéd texts and “tropical” graphics reference the “‘exotic”—a label applied to artists of African descent from Josephine Baker to Okongwu himself, who both slyly play on the banana’s sexual symbolism. When banana boxes are shipped to the northern hemisphere from Africa, the Caribbean, and South and Central America, their movement retraces old slavery routes and at the same time highlights current flows of migration and capital that repeat patterns of exploitation of the “third world.”

While Okongwu cuts up and recombines the banana boxes, he activates Chance—a vital root of both Western Dada and African divination—and in his finished works he creates vibratory visual fields that echo popular “African” fabrics—themselves hybrid. He also creates paintings that represent fragments of banana boxes recombined to create iconic images, such as volcanoes, which evoke the cataclysm that ensues when explosive energies are repressed, and banana trees, which evoke paradisiacal locations with historical undertows. Nonetheless, the banana trees thrive, images of life, growth, and peace, and the volcanoes symbolize release,  which might guide humanity towards greater positivity.

CV

b. 1975 in London, UK

EDUCATION
Post-graduate Diploma in Fine Art (Painting), Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia
Bachelor of Arts (Visual Art), Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

COLLECTIONS
Palmer Museum of Art, Penn State University, PA
Landesmuseum, Linz, Austria
Collezione Ernesto Esposito, Naples, Italy
The Francis J. Greenburger Collection, NY

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024
Banana Trees, Baert Gallery, Expo Chicago, Illinois, USA

2020
Friends and Friends of Friends, curated by Inga Kleinknecht, Schlossmuseum, Linz, Austria. September 30,

2019
Jebila Okongwu, Baert Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

2018
Schengen (with Délio Jasse and Anna Raimondo), Villa Romana, curated by Justin Randolph Thompson and Janine Gaelle, Florence, Italy.
Manhattan Office, Art in Buildings, 125 Maiden Lane, curated by Jennie Lamensdorf, New York City, USA , May 10.

2017
The Legitimacy of Brutality, Beart Gallery, Los Angeles, CA March 25-May 6, 2017

2015
Patterns of Trade (with Ludovica Gioscia), Wunderkammer, Galleria Riccardo Crespi, Milan, Italy

2013       
River Crossing, Galleria Lorcan O’Neill, Rome, Italy
Nina & Stevie, MACRO Pelanda, Rome, Italy

2012       
The Hawker (performance), Roma Contemporary 5, MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome, Italy
The Other Art Fair, Ambika, London, UK
Banana Republic, Gallery Barry Keldoulis, Sydney, Australia

2001       
Synthetic Abstractions, Rialto Project Space, Rome, Italy

1999       
Jebila Wolfe-Okongwu: Inedito, Futuro Associazione Culturale, Rome, Italy

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2019
Color is an Act of Reason, Baert Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Aug. 3 – Sep. 14, 2019

2017       
Unmasked, Axis Gallery, New York, USA
Liquid State, Axis Gallery, New York, USA

2015       
Nero Su Bianco, curated by Robert Storr, Lyle Ashton Harris and Peter Benson Miller, The American Academy in Rome, Italy

2014
The Go Between: A Selection of International Emerging Artists from the Ernesto Esposito Collection curated by Eugenio Viola, Museum of Capodimonte, Naples, Italy

2013       
Un Altro Natale, Casa della Letteratura, Rome, Italy

2012
African & African-Caribbean Design Diaspora: Untold Gold, The Bargehouse, London, Savorr VIII, Samson and Hercules House, Norwich, UK
XXXVIII Premio Sulmona, Civic Musuem – Diocesano ex Convento di Santa Chiara, Sulmona, Italy

2011
Fabula in Art 2011, Museum San Salvatore in Lauro, Rome, Italy
Exhibition for International Dialogue and Peace, Iraq Embassy, Rome, Italy

2010       
Passion is the difference, LipanjePuntin artecontemporanea, Trieste, Italy

2000     
Five Painters, Critical Mass Artist Collective, Brooklyn, New York, USA

1999
Simbiosis: Il Segno e il Simbolo, Museum of Contemporary Art, Gallese, Italy
12 Artisti: Collettiva d’Arte Contemporanea, Extra, Rome, Italy
Riot, Vernice Associazione Culturale, Mattatoio di Testaccio, Rome, Italy

RESIDENCIES/WORKSHOPS

2018
International Guest Artist Residency, Villa Romana, Florence, Italy

2017
Artist in residence. Omi International Arts Center. Ghent, New York. June 15 – July 11, 2017

ARTICLES AND EXHIBITION CATALOGUES

2020
Graphite Interdisciplinary Arts Journal. Issue No 11, “Fruit”, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, 2020

2019
As Brilliant as the Sun, Camilla Boemio, Vanilla Edizioni, Savona, ISBN 9788860574473
“Banana Boxes, BDSM gear and the intended message of artist Jebila Okongwu”, Los Angeles Times,  Sharon Mizota, Tuesday 15th October, 2019
100 Sculptors of Tomorrow, ed. Kurt Beers. London: Thames and Hudson, Sep. 2019

2015
Black on White. Mike Watson. Artreview, September 2015
Nero su Bianco, Exhibition catalogue, Nero, Rome, ISBN 9788897503613

2014
The Go Between, A Selection of International Emerging Artists from the Ernesto Esposito Collection, Exhibition catalogue, Cura Books, Rome, ISBN 9788897889229

2013       
Corriere della Sera, Il Natale dell’arte giovane, Lauretta Colonnelli, Wednesday 18th December, No. 299, p.17

2012
Art Monthly Australia, Rome is Home but the World is Wider, Jan Jones, Issue 252 August, p.48-50

2012
The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 Hours The Arts Diary, Thursday February 16th, No. 54403, p.14

2011
Fabula in Art, Text by Jonathan Turner, Il Cigno GG Edizioni, Roma, p.138-139, ISBN 9788878312654

2010
Nigerian Compass, Jebila: Home from Rome with art, Chuka Nnabuife, vol. 3, no. 802, Friday August 6th, p.28-29

1999
ARTnews, Jebila Wolfe-Okongwu, Review of Exhibition at Futuro Rome, Jonathan Turner, vol. 98, no. 9, October, p.202

PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS
Advisor, The American Academy in Rome, Italy
Tutor/Guest Lecturer, The Rhode Island School of Design in Rome, Italy
Tutor/Guest Lecturer, Temple University Rome Campus, Italy

PUBLICATIONS & PRESS

2020 Friends and Friends of Friends, Exhibition catalogue, Distanz, Berlin, ISBN 9783954763825

2020 Neues Volksblatt, Innovative Exhibition in the middle of Covid-Trauma, Astrid Braun, 1st October, Linz, Austria

2020 Kronen Zeitung, Museum makes way for Andy Warhols of today, Jasmin Gaderer, 1st October, Vienna, Austria

2020 Graphite Interdisciplinary Arts Journal, Issue No. 11, Fruit, Hammer Museum, Los Angel

2019 As Brilliant as the Sun, Camilla Boemio, Vanilla Edizioni, Savona, ISBN 9788860574473

2019 Artillery Magazine, Review of the exhibition “Jebila Okongwu“ at Baert Gallery, Max King Kap, Los Angeles, 5th November, p.52

2019 Los Angeles Times, Banana Boxes, BDSM gear and the intended message of artist Jebila Okongwu, Sharon Mizota, 15th October

2019 100 Sculptors of Tomorrow, Kurt Beers, Thames & Hudson, London, ISBN 0500021473, 9780500021477

2015 ArtReview, Black On White?, Mike Watson, vol.67, no. 6, September, p.51

2015 Nero su Bianco, Exhibition catalogue, Nero, Rome, ISBN 9788897503613

2014 The Go Between, A Selection of International Emerging Artists from the Ernesto Esposito Collection, Exhibition catalogue, Cura Books, Rome, ISBN 9788897889229

2013 Corriere della Sera, Il Natale dell’arte giovane, Lauretta Colonnelli, 18th December, No. 299, p.17

2013 La Repubblica, Wolfe-Okongwu e Sahib opere d’arte cosmopolite, Linda de Sanctis, 23rd April

2012 Art Monthly Australia, Rome is Home but the World is Wider,Jan Jones, Issue 252 August, p. 48-50

2012 The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 Hours The Arts Diary, 16th February, No. 54403, p.14

2011 Fabula in Art, Text Jonathan Turner, Il Cigno GG Edizioni, Roma, p.138-139, ISBN-9788878312654

2010 Nigerian Compass, Jebila: Home from Rome with art, Chuka Nnabuife, vol. 3, no. 802, 6th August, p.28-29

1999 ARTnews, Jebila Wolfe-Okongwu, Review of Exhibition at Futuro Rome, Jonathan Turner, vol. 98, no.9, October, p.202