Nnenna Okore

Nnenna Okore, born in 1975 in Canberra, Australia, is an Australian-born Nigerian artist who lives and works in Chicago, where she is a Professor of Art at North Park University and runs the sculpture program. Her largely abstract sculptural forms are inspired by richly textured forms and colours within the natural environment, and she frequently uses flotsam or discarded objects, employing weaving, sewing, rolling, twisting and dyeing techniques she learned by watching local Nigerians perform daily domestic tasks; her more recent works use plant-based materials, including food scraps and food waste, to create large bioplastic art forms and installations. She has won several international awards, including a Fulbright Scholar Award in 2012 and the Australian Creative Victoria Award in 2021.