Jebila Okongwu
Jebila Okongwu critiques stereotypes of Africa and African identity and repurposes them as counterstrategies, drawing on African history, symbolism and spirituality. One of his preferred materials is banana boxes; their tropicalized graphics articulate an ‘exotic’ provenance, much like the exoticization of African bodies from an ethnocentric perspective. When these boxes are shipped to the West from Africa, the Caribbean and South America, old routes of slavery are retraced, accentuating existing patterns of migration, trade and exploitation.
Okongwu often investigates methods to communicate what it feels like to be embedded in structures of domination such as colonialism, racism and exploitation, and how to represent this aspect of blackness. His frequent use of imagery related to BDSM is not an attempt to allude to the histories of domination and oppression by analogy with these practices, where acts of submission are obviously voluntary, but as an instrument to examine roles of difference and the embodiment of certain types of sensations. The artist is questioning how difference becomes material within the contexts of race and power. By the layering of the exoticized and stereotyped corporate logos of multinational banana importers with imagery related to BDSM, he attempts to articulate the complex histories of physical experience on the body of the other, where domination and brutality have not only been profitable, but also eroticized.
Born in London and then raised in Nigeria and Australia, Okongwu currently lives and works in Rome. He received a BA in Visual Art from Monash University, Melbourne, and a Graduate Diploma in Fine Art from the University of Melbourne. His work has been exhibited at prominent international institutions including, Schlossmuseum, Linz, Austria (2020), the American Academy in Rome (2015), the Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples (2014), and the MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome (2013). His work is featured in the recently released ‘100 Sculptors of Tomorrow’ published by Thames and Hudson, and ‘Graphite Interdisciplinary Arts Journal’ published by the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles.
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Jebila OkongwuDivination Painting No. 16, 2018Oil on linen47 1/4 x 39 3/8 in
120 x 100 cm -
Jebila OkongwuDivination Painting No. 20, 2018Oil on linen47 1/4 x 39 3/8 in
120 x 100 cm -
Jebila OkongwuDivination Painting No. 18, 2018Oil on linen47 1/4 x 39 3/8 in
120 x 100 cm -
Jebila OkongwuFive Banana Boxes, 2018Acrylic on marine ply, BDSM equipmentVariable dimensions
Each box:
35 3/8 x 73 5/8 x 57 7/8 in
90 x 187 x 147 cm
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Jebila OkongwuAlba Bananas, 2019Oil on linen35 3/8 x 57 1/2 in
90 x 146 cm -
Jebila OkongwuPainting for Los Angeles, 2019Oil on linen52 3/8 x 63 in
133 x 160 cm -
Jebila OkongwuUntitled, 2016Bronze24 1/8 x 27 1/2 x 15 3/4 in
61 x 70 x 40 cm -
Jebila OkongwuMr. Jebila, 2019Oil on wood (two panels)Each: 73 5/8 x 35 3/8 x 2 3/4 in
187 x 90 x 7 cm
Overall: 73 5/8 x 70 7/8 x 2 3/4 in
187 x 180 x 7 cm -
Jebila OkongwuStudy for Banana Sculpture No. 24, 2019Banana boxes, nylon thread, polyurethane foam, fiberglass, epoxy resin, pigment and wood47 1/4 x 44 1/8 x 26 in
120 x 112 x 66 cm -
Jebila OkongwuPremium Quality Bananas (study), 2019Oil on linen27 1/2 x 21 5/8 in
70 x 55 cm -
Jebila OkongwuProduct: Bananas (study), 2019Oil on linen17 3/4 x 21 5/8 in
45 x 55 cm -
Jebila OkongwuSimba (study), 2019Oil on linen21 5/8 x 17 3/4 in
55 x 45 cm -
Jebila OkongwuSix Bananas (study), 2019Oil on linen21 5/8 x 17 3/4 in
55 x 45 cm -
Jebila OkongwuThe Legitimacy of Brutality, 2016Oil on linen63 x 86 5/8 in
160 x 220 cm -
Jebila OkongwuUntitled, 2016Oil on linen70 7/8 x 55 1/8 in
180 x 140 cm -
Jebila OkongwuUntitled, 2016Mixed media collage on linen19 1/4 x 15 in
49 x 38 cm -
Jebila OkongwuUntitled, 2016Mixed media collage on linen19 1/4 x 15 in
49 x 38 cm -
Jebila OkongwuUntitled, 2016Mixed media collage on linen19 1/4 x 15 in
49 x 38 cm
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Jebila Okongwu
Institutional aquisition by the Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum Linz, Austria October 29, 2020We are pleased to announce the acquisition of Jebila Okongwu's Divination Painting (Exotic Dawn), 2020 by the Oberösterreichisches Landesmuseum Linz, Austria. Established in 1833, the...Read more -
Jebila Okongwu, Harrison Pearce
Group exhibition "Friends and Friends of Friends", Schlossmuseum, Linz, Austria September 30, 2020Curated by Inga Kleinknecht September 30, 2020 – January 6, 2021 Artistic communities in the age of social media Artistic communities once depended on face-to-face...Read more -
Ludovica Gioscia, Jebila Okongwu, Harrison Pearce, Benjamin Renoux
Featured in “100 Sculptors of Tomorrow“ by Thames & Hudson September 1, 2019Published in September 2019 100 SCULPTORS OF TOMORROW is an insightful, diverse, and inspiring survey of emerging and unknown talent working in the field of...Read more -
Jebila Okongwu
Group exhibition “Schengen“, Villa Romana, Florence, Italy July 12, 2018July 12 – August 24, 2018 Schengen is a three-part exhibition that examines the limitations of socio-cultural and political borders through a totemic memorialization of...Read more -
Jebila Okongwu
Solo exhibition “Manhattan Office“, 125 Maiden Lane, New York, USA May 16, 2018May 16, 2018 – January 30, 2019 In the lobby of 125 Maiden Lane, Jebila Okongwu: Manhattan Office, includes a presentation of selections from three...Read more
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Museum makes way for Andy Warhols of Today
Jasmin Gaderer, Kronen Zeitung , October 1, 2020 -
Jebila Okongwu at Baert Gallery
Max King Kap, Artillery Magazine, November 5, 2019 -
How 100 Sculptors of Tomorrow Were Gathered in a Single Book
Balasz Takac, Widewalls, September 4, 2019 -
We Want to Invest in the Region’: FOG and Untitled Fairs Bring Out Dealers, Collectors in San Francisco
Andy Battaglia, ARTnews, January 18, 2019