Nnenna Okore

Posted by Fabio 27 November 2017

Born in Australia and raised in Nigeria, Nnenna Okore has received international acclaim for her richly textured fiber art sculptures and installations. Known for their environmental ties her breathtaking works explore the fragility and ephemerality of terrestrial existence. Her highly tactile sculptures respond to the rhythms and contours of everyday life, combining reductive methods of shredding, fraying, twisting, teasing and washing with constructive processes of tying, weaving, stitching and dyeing. Also, informing her aesthetics are familiar sounds of sweeping, chopping, talking and washing, processes that reflect the transience of human labor and its inevitable mark on the material world.

My work broadly focuses on the concepts of recycling, transformation and regeneration of forms based on observations from ecological and man-made environments. I am drawn to uniquely diverse and tactile characteristics of the collective physical world. I am astounded by natural phenomena that cause things to become weathered, dilapidated and lifeless – those events slowly triggered by aging, death and decay – and subtly captured in the fluid and delicate nature of life.

My materials are biodegradable and comprise largely of old newspapers, found paper, ropes, thread, yarn, fibers, burlap, dye, coffee, starch, clay, etc. Through manually repetitive techniques as mirrored in both natural and mechanical reproductions, my processes of fraying, tearing, teasing, weaving, dyeing, waxing, accumulating and sewing allow me to interweave and synthesize the distinct properties of materials. I systematically deconstruct and reconstruct my media to yield subtle transformations of visual complexities. And much like impermanent earthly attributes, my organic and twisted structures mimic the dazzling intricacies of fabric, trees, barks, topography and architecture. All my processes are adapted or inspired by traditional women’s practice, the African environment, third-world economies and recycled waste.

I desire to heighten through my works, a perception and appreciation for colors, textures, undulating contours, movements and the mystic occurrences within our ethereal world. _Nnenna Okore

www.nnennaokore.com