Emeka Udemba
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Emeka Udemba is a prominent artist of color who creates mixed-media artworks that explore themes of identity, otherness, and social issues in an evolving global environment. His figurative pieces offer a space for speculation, free flow of ideas, discoveries, and transformation. Udemba's artistic process involves weaving together materials and fragments to create images that invite us to question and reimagine new landscapes of memory, history, the present, and the future. His works go beyond the geographies of hierarchy, power, conquest, and dominance, alluding to landscapes where we can celebrate humanity and our differences. Ultimately, Udemba's art is about visibility, empowerment, and solidarity.
Udemba is a highly accomplished artist, having exhibited in numerous solo and group shows around the world, including the Venice Biennale, Dak'Art Biennale, and Havana Biennale. His works are also part of several private and public collections, such as the National Museum of African Art in Washington D.C., and the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, South Africa.
Centering his mixed-media artworks within his identity as a person of color who lives in an evolving “global environment”, Emeka Udemba creates figurative artworks which offer space for speculations, free-flow of ideas, discoveries, and transformation.
Growing up in Enugu, a city in the eastern part of Nigeria, Udemba’s initial contact with art was watching over his father’s shoulder, a London trained forensic photographer. His father took portraits of his friends who came to their house and covered social events like weddings, birthdays, and funerals for those who asked for his service. Before the advent of color photography in Nigeria, his father would manually color some of these photographs with acrylic artist paint and brush. These creative moments with his father acted as a catalyst for him ultimately decided to study art and art education at the University of Lagos, in Nigeria. After graduating and exhibiting his work in Nigeria, he developed a connection to an art and language residency program in Germany, thus starting his bi-national career.
“My work over the years is influenced by my encounters and experiences of living and working between two distinct worlds/spaces (Africa/Europe). In my practice, I often look to use contemporary art to call attention to social issues as a way to build community and build stronger networks. As an artist of colour, living in the diaspora, I explore the issues of identity, otherness, systemic biases and epistemic colonialism through the juxtaposition of history and the contemporary by appropriating and utilization of materials and forms to connect the past with the present.”
Udemba’s artworks revolve around issues of “otherness”. He creates images weaving together materials and fragments that invite us to question and reimagine new landscapes of memory, history, the present, and the future. These artworks speak beyond the geographies of hierarchy, power, conquest, and dominance. They allude to landscapes where we can all celebrate humanity and our differences. Ultimately, Udemba’s work is about visibility, empowerment, and solidarity.
EXHIBITIONS (SELECTED)
2021-23 Artplex Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2020 “Freedom is Mine” Out Of Africa Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
“Regionale” Kunsthaus L6, Freiburg, Germany
“Another Day in Paradise“ Ewerk Centre of Art, Freiburg, Germany
Freiburg Art Fair
2019 “Becoming” Kunsthaus L6 Freiburg, Germany
“A Question of Being“ SMO Contemporary Art, Lagos, Nigeria
ArtXLagos, Nigeria
2018 “Looking for Change” Kunstverine KISS, Schloss Untergroeningen, Germany
11th Mercosul Biennial, Porto Alegre, Brazil
13th Dak’art Biennale, Senegal
“Rustling Hope” MMOCA Lagos, Nigeria
2017 “Hotspots Project” Goethe Institut Lagos, Nigeria
“Hotspots Project” Saracura Art Space, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
“Vanishing Voices Project” Goethe Institut, Lagos, Nigeria
“Wanderlust”, SMO Contemporary Art, Lagos, Nigeria
Osmosis Festival, Taipei, Taiwan
2016 Vidoenale, CCA Lagos, Goethe Institut Lagos, Nigeria
MMMoCA Road Project, Lagos-Dakar Senegal
Ostrale’016, Dresden, Germany
Meditations Biennale, Poland
Urban Touch, Kusthalle Faust, Hannover, Germany
“Telling Stories” Galerie im AltenWiehrebahnhof, Freiburg, Germany
Seeing and Being Seen, Galerie Menzel, Kenzingen, Germany
2015 “Tools of Conflict” Art house, Lagos, Nigeria
“Transmission” Project Space Lagos, Nigeria
Jogja Biennale
2014 “Witness” MMoCA Lagos, Nigeria
Frankfurt Bookmesse, Frankfurt, Germany
Afropean Mimicry and Mockery, Kuenstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt, Germany
Galerie Barnoud, Dijon, France
2013 Habitus, Galerie Bernoud Dijon, France
Wahala, Entrepo 9, Dijon, France, Savvy Contemporary, Berlin, Germany
Project “Ajegunle Invitation” Lagos, Nigeria
“Ein Haus Fuer Junkman” Ewerk, Freiburg, Germany
2012 Black Germany Body Politics, Ballhaus, Berlin, Germany
Emergency Exit, Bag Factory, Johannesburg, South Africa
Black Germany, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
Lagos Live Festival, Nigeria
2011 “Closed Space” Neu-Koeln-Berlin/ Hillbrow-Johannesburg, GoethenMain, Johannesburg and Kunsthaus I6 Freiburg, Germany
“7 Days”, video project, Berlin, Germany
“Wide Angle” project, Goethe Institut Johannesburg, South Africa
Retour Paris, Institut Francais de Stuttgrart, Germany
Small Is Beautiful, Galerie Barnoud, Dijon, France
2010 FESMA, Dakar, Senegal
“Walking The City” Drillhall, Johannesburg, South Africa
“Exchanging Space”, Project Space, Badore, Lagos
2009 “Signs” 14-1 Gallery, Germany
Urban Scenography Project, Johannesburg, South Africa
Johannesburg Art Fair, South Africa
PRIZES/AWARDS
2007 Best Art Practices, Bozano, Italy
2002 Ambassador of France Award, Dakar, Biennale, Senegal
2000 Public Prize, Project Queich Landu, Germany
Centering his mixed-media artworks within his identity as a person of color who lives in an evolving “global environment”, Emeka Udemba creates figurative artworks which offer space for speculations, free-flow of ideas, discoveries, and transformation.
Growing up in Enugu, a city in the eastern part of Nigeria, Udemba’s initial contact with art was watching over his father’s shoulder, a London trained forensic photographer. His father took portraits of his friends who came to their house and covered social events like weddings, birthdays, and funerals for those who asked for his service. Before the advent of color photography in Nigeria, his father would manually color some of these photographs with acrylic artist paint and brush. These creative moments with his father acted as a catalyst for him ultimately decided to study art and art education at the University of Lagos, in Nigeria. After graduating and exhibiting his work in Nigeria, he developed a connection to an art and language residency program in Germany, thus starting his bi-national career.
“My work over the years is influenced by my encounters and experiences of living and working between two distinct worlds/spaces (Africa/Europe). In my practice, I often look to use contemporary art to call attention to social issues as a way to build community and build stronger networks. As an artist of colour, living in the diaspora, I explore the issues of identity, otherness, systemic biases and epistemic colonialism through the juxtaposition of history and the contemporary by appropriating and utilization of materials and forms to connect the past with the present.”
Udemba’s artworks revolve around issues of “otherness”. He creates images weaving together materials and fragments that invite us to question and reimagine new landscapes of memory, history, the present, and the future. These artworks speak beyond the geographies of hierarchy, power, conquest, and dominance. They allude to landscapes where we can all celebrate humanity and our differences. Ultimately, Udemba’s work is about visibility, empowerment, and solidarity.
EXHIBITIONS (SELECTED)
2021-23 Artplex Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2020 “Freedom is Mine” Out Of Africa Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
“Regionale” Kunsthaus L6, Freiburg, Germany
“Another Day in Paradise“ Ewerk Centre of Art, Freiburg, Germany
Freiburg Art Fair
2019 “Becoming” Kunsthaus L6 Freiburg, Germany
“A Question of Being“ SMO Contemporary Art, Lagos, Nigeria
ArtXLagos, Nigeria
2018 “Looking for Change” Kunstverine KISS, Schloss Untergroeningen, Germany
11th Mercosul Biennial, Porto Alegre, Brazil
13th Dak’art Biennale, Senegal
“Rustling Hope” MMOCA Lagos, Nigeria
2017 “Hotspots Project” Goethe Institut Lagos, Nigeria
“Hotspots Project” Saracura Art Space, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
“Vanishing Voices Project” Goethe Institut, Lagos, Nigeria
“Wanderlust”, SMO Contemporary Art, Lagos, Nigeria
Osmosis Festival, Taipei, Taiwan
2016 Vidoenale, CCA Lagos, Goethe Institut Lagos, Nigeria
MMMoCA Road Project, Lagos-Dakar Senegal
Ostrale’016, Dresden, Germany
Meditations Biennale, Poland
Urban Touch, Kusthalle Faust, Hannover, Germany
“Telling Stories” Galerie im AltenWiehrebahnhof, Freiburg, Germany
Seeing and Being Seen, Galerie Menzel, Kenzingen, Germany
2015 “Tools of Conflict” Art house, Lagos, Nigeria
“Transmission” Project Space Lagos, Nigeria
Jogja Biennale
2014 “Witness” MMoCA Lagos, Nigeria
Frankfurt Bookmesse, Frankfurt, Germany
Afropean Mimicry and Mockery, Kuenstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt, Germany
Galerie Barnoud, Dijon, France
2013 Habitus, Galerie Bernoud Dijon, France
Wahala, Entrepo 9, Dijon, France, Savvy Contemporary, Berlin, Germany
Project “Ajegunle Invitation” Lagos, Nigeria
“Ein Haus Fuer Junkman” Ewerk, Freiburg, Germany
2012 Black Germany Body Politics, Ballhaus, Berlin, Germany
Emergency Exit, Bag Factory, Johannesburg, South Africa
Black Germany, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
Lagos Live Festival, Nigeria
2011 “Closed Space” Neu-Koeln-Berlin/ Hillbrow-Johannesburg, GoethenMain, Johannesburg and Kunsthaus I6 Freiburg, Germany
“7 Days”, video project, Berlin, Germany
“Wide Angle” project, Goethe Institut Johannesburg, South Africa
Retour Paris, Institut Francais de Stuttgrart, Germany
Small Is Beautiful, Galerie Barnoud, Dijon, France
2010 FESMA, Dakar, Senegal
“Walking The City” Drillhall, Johannesburg, South Africa
“Exchanging Space”, Project Space, Badore, Lagos
2009 “Signs” 14-1 Gallery, Germany
Urban Scenography Project, Johannesburg, South Africa
Johannesburg Art Fair, South Africa
PRIZES/AWARDS
2007 Best Art Practices, Bozano, Italy
2002 Ambassador of France Award, Dakar, Biennale, Senegal
2000 Public Prize, Project Queich Landu, Germany