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BIOGRAPHY

Jebila Okongwu critiques stereotypes of Africa and African identity while activating as counterstrategies African systems of thought, symbolism, and spirituality. His favored medium is banana boxes. Their clichéd texts and “tropical” graphics reference the “‘exotic”—a label applied to artists of African descent from Josephine Baker to Okongwu himself, both slyly playing on the banana’s sexual symbolism. When banana boxes are shipped to the West from Africa, the Caribbean, and South America, they retrace slavery routes, and highlight current flows of migration and capital that repeat patterns of exploitation of the “third world.” As Okongwu cuts up and recombines the boxes, he activates Chance—a vital root of Western Dada and African divination—and creates vibratory visual fields that echo popular “African” fabrics—themselves hybrid. Okongwu’s imagery is also inspired by civil rights, migration, street hawkers, and other socio-political themes, often employing performance—a key strategy of traditional African art.

 

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

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

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

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, Baert Gallery, Los Angeles. 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