Nengi Omuku (b.1987, Nigeria) has completed both her BA and MA at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London. Omuku’s work is inspired by the politics of the body and the complexities that surround identity and difference. With every journey, she considers how human beings position themselves in space in relation to other beings. Foremost on her mind are the ways in which the body needs to adapt in order to belong. It is constantly selecting and gathering its identity, mentally, physically and emotionally.
Solo Exhibitions include (Upcoming) Kasmin Gallery, New York, USA; (Upcoming) As Water Never Touched, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA (2023); The Dance Of People And The Natural World, Hastings Contemporary, UK (2023-2024); Parables of Joy, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, UK (2022); Chorus, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2021); Gathering, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2020); Stages of Collapse, September Gray, Atlanta, USA (2017); A State of Mind, The Armory Show, New York, USA (2016); A State of Mind, Omenka Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria (2015); To Figure an Encounter, Open The Gate, London, UK (2011).
Group Exhibitions include (Upcoming) A Spirit Inside, travelling exhibition, Compton Verney, UK (2024); (Upcoming) Soulscapes, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, UK, (2024); Free The Wind, The Spirit, and The Sun, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London (2023); A Spirit Inside, travelling exhibition, The Lightbox, Woking, UK (2023); Aso Oke: Prestige Cloth from Nigeria, St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, USA (2023); Rites of Passage, Gagosian, curated by Péjú Oshin, London, UK (2023); CHAOS: CALM, Bangkok Art Biennale, Bangkok, Thailand (2022); The Company She Keeps, Tiwani Contemporary, Lagos, Nigeria (2022); Uprising, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2022); Dissolving Realms, curated by Katy Hessel, Kasmin Gallery, New York, USA (2022); What Lies Beneath: Women, Politics, Textiles, New Hall Art Collection, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge (2022); Ubuntu: I Am Because We Are, curated by Louise Stefanii, Africana Art Centre, online (2022); Self-Addressed, curated by Kehinde Wiley at Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles, USA (2021); Ubunti: I Am Because We Are, World Trade Organisation, Headquarter, Geneva, Switzerland (2021); The Invincible Hands, Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art, Lagos, Nigeria (2021); À Corps Défendant, La Galerie, Centre d'Art Contemporain, Noisy-le-Sec, France (2021); Facing The Sun, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Schloss Görne, Germany (2021); Dancing in Dark Times, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, UK (2021); All the Days and Nights, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2020); Untitled Art San Francisco, with Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, San Francisco, USA (2020); 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London, UK (2019), Hospital Rooms, Griffin Gallery, London, UK (2018); At work, Arthouse, Lagos, Nigeria (2018); ARTX, Lagos, Nigeria (2017); Commotion, 1:54, London, UK (2017); Mapping Histories, Constructing Realities, ART15, London, UK (2015); The Next 50 Years, Omenka Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria (2014) and Jerwood Drawing Prize Exhibition, Jerwood Gallery, London, UK (2012).
Highlights and Collections
Omuku was awarded the Civitella Ranieri Residency in Italy (April-June 2024), The Black Rock Senegal Residency (2022-2023), The World Trade Organisation Residency in Geneva (2021). Omuku received the Prankerd-Jones Memorial Prize, awarded by University College London (2012), the Nancy Balfour MA Scholarship, awarded by University College London (2011) and the British Council CHOGM art award presented by HM Queen Elizabeth II (2003). Commissions include the Arts Council England commission at Maudsley Hospital, London. Omuku’s work can be found in international private and public collections including: The HSBC Collection, the Bunker Artspace Museum, The Loewe Collection, The Monsoon Collection, The Easton Capital Collection, The Azman Museum, Dawn Art Collection, Ditau Collection, The Women's Art Collection, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, ICA Miami, Black Rock Senegal, The Whitworth and The Baltimore Museum of Art.