Wura-Natasha Ogunji (b. Cherkassy) is a visual artist and performer. She received her Bachelor's in Anthropology from Stanford University in 1992, and Masters' in Fine Arts Photography from San Jose State University in 1998. Her works include drawings hand-stitched into tracing paper, videos and public performances. Her work is deeply inspired by the daily interactions and frequencies that occur in the city of Lagos, Nigeria, from the epic to the intimate. Ogunji's performances explore the presence of women in public spaces; these often include investigations of labor, leisure, freedom and frivolity.
Recent exhibitions include (Upcoming) A World in Common: Contemporary African Photography, Tate Modern, London, UK (2024); (Upcoming) As If Ever A Wave Reached The Shore, curated by Jan Philipp Frühsorge, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2023); Cake, Fridman Gallery, New York, USA (2022); Rivus, 23rd Biennale of Sydney, curated by José Roca, Paschal Daantos Berry, Anna Davis, Hanah Donnelly, Talia Linz, Sydney, Australia (2022); Laced: In Search of What Connects Us, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, curated by Hansi MomoduGordon, UK (2021); Come in Tent: ReEactement of Things, M.Bassy, Hamburg, curated by Claude Jansen and Bisrat Negassi, Germany (2021); Diaspora at Home, Kadist Foundation, Paris, curated by Iheanyi Onwuegbucha and Sophie Potelon, France (2021); FIGURE/S: drawing after Bellmer, Drawing Room, London, curated by Kate McFarlane and Michael Newman, UK (2021); Afrocity, Galerie Loire, Ecole Nationale Supérieure D’architecture, Nantes, curated by Cindy Olohou and Rossila Goussanou, France (2021); My whole body changed into something else, Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town and Johannesburg, curated by Sispho Ngodwana and Sinazo Chiya, South Africa (2021); The Power of My Hands: Afrique(s) artistes femmes, Museum of Modern Art , Paris, curated by Odile Burlureaux and Suzanna Sousa, France (2021); the pleasurable, the illegible, the multiple, the mundane, Artspace, Sydney, curated by Talia Linz, Australia (2021); And the land breathes back, aCinema space (online screening) curated by Janelie VanderKelen and Takahiro Suzuki (2021); A stranger’s soul is a deep well, Fridman Gallery, New York, USA (2021); Je sui savant, je suis presque, je suis jamais, Contemporary Art Centre, Parc Saint Léger, Pougues-les-Eaux, curated by Ekaterina Shcherbakova, France (2020) ; The Armory Show, with Fridman Gallery, New York, USA (2020); Tomorrow There Will Be More Of Us, Stellenbosch Triennial, curated by Khanyisile Mbongwa, Nontobeko Ntombela and Beranrd Akoi-Jackson, South Africa (2020); Alpha Crucis: Contemporary African Art, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, curated by André Magnin, Norway (2020); Diaspora at Home, Centre for Contemporary Art, lagos, curated by Iheanyi Onwuegbucha and Sophie Potelon, Nigeria (2019); You are so loved and lovely, Fridman Gallery, New York, USA (2019); City Princ/sses, Palais de Tokyo, curated by Hugo Vitrani, Japan (2019); Affective Affinities, 33rd São Paulo Bienal, curated by Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro, Brazil (2018); A slice through the World: Contemporary Artists’ Drawings, curated by Stephanie Striane, Modern Art Oxford, UK (2018); Every Mask I Ever Loved, ifa Galerie, Berlin, curated by Eva Barois De Caevel, Germany (2017); Expansion of Time, Temple Muse, curated my SMO Arts (2017); Forming in the pupil of an eye, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, curated by Sudarshan Shetty (2016); Visions into Infiintie Archives, SOMARTS, San Francisco, curated by Black Salt Collective, DISGUISE: Masks and Global African Art, curated by PammcClusky and Erika Dalya Massaquoi, Seattle Art Museum, USA (2016).
Awards and Scholarships
Wura-Natasha Ogunji has been the recipient of international prices and residencies. She was the artist in residence in 2022-23 Cité Interntationale des Arts, Paris, France and the 2018 Artist-Curator for sempre nunca for Affective Affinities, São Paulo, Brazil. Additionally, she was the recipient of the 2015 Creation Fund project Commission for National Performance Network in New Orleans; 2014 Selected Performer for the Hemispheric Institute, Encuenctro; Manifest Choreographing Social Movements in the Americas, Montreal; the 2012 Recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, New York, USA.