Cologne Fine Art & Design

Sakhile&Me presents paintings, sculptures and wall installations by Osi Audu, Nnenna Okore, Ghizlane Sahli, Bambo Sibiya and Adejoke Tugbiyele at Cologne Fine Art & Design. The art fair is held at Koelnmesse and runs from 20 to 24 November 2019.

Osi Audu's practice over the last three decades has consistently focused on abstract art that retains some figurative elements, forming a series of geometric acrylic paintings in contrasting colours and monochromatic grey and black drawings. Following the Yoruba concept of Ori Inu ("the inner head"), Audu's works - most of them portraits of the self (hence their title "self- portraits") - raise questions about the dual and oftentimes multifaceted nature of "the self" and draw attention to the head as a signifier of consciousness and as an object of self-knowing. Audu received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Ife (Nigeria) in 1980 and his Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting from the University of Georgia in Athens (USA) in 1984. Audu's work has shown in prestigious institutions such as Iwalewa-Haus (Bayreuth), the British Museum (London), the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of African Art (Washington D.C.) and the Museo Di Palazzo Grimani during the Venice Biennale. He lives and works in New York.

Nnenna Okore is best known for her fiber sculptures whose intricate textures and vibrant colors reference organic elements and explore themes of transience and transformation. Made from burlap, cheesecloth, rope, yarn, paper and wire, they form richly textured installations sprouting from the walls like organisms growing out to meet the space. More recently, Okore also began creating textured acrylic and clay paintings reminiscent of fossil-like structures and topographic landscapes, inviting the viewer to contemplate the passing of time and prompting an excavation of life forms drawn from memory and imagination. Okore was born in Australia, raised in Nigeria and Swaziland and is currently Chair of the Art Department at North Park University in Chicago. She has received her bachelor's degree in fine and applied arts from the University of Nigeria Nsukka and her master of fine arts degree from the University of Iowa and has trained with El Anatsui, Chike Aniakor and Chijioke Onuora. Over the last two decades, the 2012 Fulbright Fellow has shown in over 100 solo and group exhibitions worldwide. Okore lives and works in both Nigeria and Illinois.

Ghizlane Sahli's art practice is deeply inspired by her background in architecture, embroidery and her interest in environmental sustainability. The artist creates cellular-form ink drawings with light but detailed embroidery patterns and sculptures made from silk-wrapped bottle tops, which she refers to as "the Alveoles." Sahli studied architecture at the École d'Architecture de Paris-Tolbiac and the École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Paris-Belleville and upon returning to her home country founded an embroidery workshop with local artisan women in Marrakech. In 2012, she co-founded the artist collective Zbel Manifesto that dedicates its practice primarily to working with waste and repurposed materials. Sahli has had exhibitions in London, Marrakesh, Milan and Paris.

Bambo Sibiya incorporates printmaking techniques in his practice, including the use of charcoal, linocuts and lithographs in his large-scale paintings on canvas. His two works in this presentation highlight individuals of South African mining communities, depicting them in moments of leisure and reflection. Sibiya received a certificate in Fine Arts from the Mbira School of Music and Art in 2000 and earned a certificate in Design from Benoni Technical College in 2005. He then trained in printmaking at the Artist Proof Studio (APS) in Johannesburg where he worked on large-scale linocut prints with artists like Norman Catherine, William Kentridge, Colbert Mashile and Diane Victor. His work has shown in solo and group exhibitions in Botswana, France, the Seychelles, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

Adejoke Tugbiyele works with a diverse range of materials including wire, natural fibers, fabric and wood to create intricate sculptures. Her works are charged with symbolic meanings that bridge and layer historical, cultural and political ideas around race, gender and sexuality with that of class, economy, sex-politics and religion. In the monumental sculpture "Drama", Tugbiyele creates her interpretation of "the modern African lady" as she engages ideas about matriarchal forms, systems and strategies in response to patriarchal frameworks, blurring the lines between the dual nature of masculinity and femininity. An award-winning, queer, black artist and advocate based in Johannesburg, Tugbiyele received her Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture from the New Jersey Institute of Technology in 2002 and her M.F.A. from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2013.