Nnenna Okore


Nnenna Okore was born in Australia in 1975 to parents from Ututu, Nigeria. At age four, she moved back to Nigeria with her parents who began working at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka. Okore graduated from Primary and Secondary School in Nigeria before moving to Swaziland where her father took on a position for the United Nations and where Okore attended Waterford Kamhlaba United World College.

In 1994, Nnenna Okore won first prize at the UNIFEM Women's Art Contest and got to travel to Dakar, Abuja and Beijing. She enrolled in the Fine and Applied Arts undergraduate program at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka in 1995 and graduated as Valedictorian of her class in 1999. In 2002, she began her graduate studies in Fine Arts at the University of Iowa, obtaining her Master of Arts degree in Sculpture in 2004 and her Master of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture in 2005.

Upon graduation, Okore became an Assistant Professor at North Park University in Chicago. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2011 and full time Professor and Chair of the Fine Art Department at North Park University in 2015. In 2023, Okore received her Ph.D. in Fine Art from Monash University.

Alongside her academic work, Okore was able to secure several artist-in-residency fellowships, for example at the Santa Fe Art Institute in 2004; at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2007; and at Skidmore College in 2011.

She has also received several fellowships and awards such as the UNESCO-Aschberg Fellowship for Artists awarded by the Gruber Jez Foundation in Mérida, Mexico in 2006; a fellowship at the Global Art Village in Delhi, India in 2007; a fellowship at the Jean Paul Blachère Foundation in Apt, France in 2010; and a Fulbright Scholar Award to the University of Lagos, Nigeria in 2012.

Okore lives and works both in the United States and Nigeria and has exhibited in more than 100 exhibitions world-wide over the past two decades. Her works are part of several notable collections, such as the World Bank's Art Collection, the Newark Museum, the Jean Paul Blachère Foundation, the Indianapolis Art Center and the Royal Collections in Abu Dhabi.


Available Works


Nnenna Okore: Above the Fray

Above the Fray

Nnenna Okore

2024

Hessian, cheesecloth, dye, and wire

39 x 36 x 8 in | 99.1 x 91.4 x 20.3 cm

Nnenna Okore: Abundant Returns

Abundant Returns

Nnenna Okore

2024

Hessian, cheesecloth, dye, and wire

34 x 30 x 8 in | 86.4 x 76.2 x 20.3 cm

Nnenna Okore: Against the Odds

Against the Odds

Nnenna Okore

2024

Hessian, cheesecloth, dye, and wire

50 x 38 x 12 in | 127 x 96.5 x 30.5 cm

Nnenna Okore: Beyond Believe

Beyond Believe

Nnenna Okore

2024

Hessian, cheesecloth, dye, and wire

43 x 40 x 8 in | 109.2 x 101.6 x 20.3 cm

Nnenna Okore: Moments Away

Moments Away

Nnenna Okore

2024

Hessian, cheesecloth, dye, and wire

36 x 40 x 12 in | 91.4 x 101.6 x 30.5 cm

Nnenna Okore: Morning Bliss

Morning Bliss

Nnenna Okore

2024

Hessian, cheesecloth, dye, and wire

40 x 36 x 12 in | 101.6 x 91.4 x 30.5 cm

Nnenna Okore: New Beginnings

New Beginnings

Nnenna Okore

2024

Hessian, cheesecloth, dye, and wire

58 x 40 x 10 in | 147.3 x 101.6 x 25.4 cm

Nnenna Okore: Once in a Lifetime

Once in a Lifetime

Nnenna Okore

2024

Hessian, cheesecloth, dye, and wire

41 x 37 x 12 in | 104.1 x 94 x 30.5 cm

Nnenna Okore: Serendipities

Serendipities

Nnenna Okore

2024

Hessian, cheesecloth, dye, and wire

36 x 36 x 8 in | 91.4 x 91.4 x 20.3 cm

Nnenna Okore: Spring Water Rainbow

Spring Water Rainbow

Nnenna Okore

2024

Hessian, cheesecloth, dye, and wire

38 x 35 x 8 in | 96.5 x 88.9 x 20.3 cm

Nnenna Okore: Ututu

Ututu

Nnenna Okore

2016

Burlap, cheese cloth, paper, dye, acrylic and wire

30 x 30 x 30 in | 76.2 x 76.2 x 76.2 cm

Nnenna Okore: Oyele

Oyele

Nnenna Okore

2017

Burlap, yarn, dye and wire

98 x 55 x 17 in | 248.9 x 139.7 x 43.2 cm

Nnenna Okore: Untitled (Matter of Time)

Untitled (Matter of Time)

Nnenna Okore

2021

Bioplastic

20 x 12 in | 50.8 x 30.5 cm

Nnenna Okore: Untitled (Matter of Time)

Untitled (Matter of Time)

Nnenna Okore

2021

Bioplastic

20 x 12 in | 50.8 x 30.5 cm

Nnenna Okore: Untitled (Matter of Time)

Untitled (Matter of Time)

Nnenna Okore

2021

Bioplastic

20 x 12 in | 50.8 x 30.5 cm

Nnenna Okore: Untitled (Matter of Time)

Untitled (Matter of Time)

Nnenna Okore

2021

Bioplastic

12 x 12 in | 30.5 x 30.5 cm

Nnenna Okore: Untitled (Matter of Time)

Untitled (Matter of Time)

Nnenna Okore

2021

Bioplastic

12 x 12 in | 30.5 x 30.5 cm


Exhibitions & Art Fairs

Nnenna Okore: Chasing Butterflies in Harmattan

Chasing Butterflies in Harmattan

Nnenna Okore

12 Apr - 25 May 2024

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Intimations

Intimations

Osi Audu, Larry Bonćhaka, Kevin Demery, Mbali Dhlamini, Mario Joyce, Sekai Machache, Nnenna Okore, Owanto, Ghizlane Sahli

30 Nov - 23 Dec 2023

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1-54 London 2022

1-54 London

Adelaide Damoah, Nnenna Okore, Ghizlane Sahli, Katlego Tlabela

13 - 16 October 2022

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Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2020

Investec Cape Town Art Fair

Nnenna Okore

13 - 16 February 2020

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Accrochage 2020

Accrochage

Osi Audu, Kevin Demery, Nnenna Okore, Ghizlane Sahli, Bambo Sibiya

7 Jan - 8 Feb 2020

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Cologne Fine Art & Design 2019

Cologne Fine Art & Design

Osi Audu, Nnenna Okore, Ghizlane Sahli, Bambo Sibiya, Adejoke Tugbiyele

20 - 24 November 2019

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1-54 London 2019

1-54 London

Osi Audu, Nnenna Okore

2 - 6 October 2019

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Nnenna Okore: Embodiment

Embodiment

Nnenna Okore

7 Sep - 30 Nov 2018

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