Njideka Akunyili Crosby

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• Publications

  → Njideka Akunyili Crosby: “The Beautyful Ones”, 2019

  → Njideka Akunyili Crosby: I Refuse to be Invisible, 2016

• Exhibitions

  → "Njideka Akunyili Crosby: A Complex Weave" (2020), Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA

  → "Njideka Akunyili Crosby: The Beautyful Ones" (2019), Victoria Miro Gallery, London, UK

  → "Njideka Akunyili Crosby: The Beautyful Ones" (2018), Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston, USA

  → "Njideka Akunyili Crosby: The Beautyful Ones" (2017), Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA

  → "Njideka Akunyili Crosby: I Refuse to Be Invisible" (2015), Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA

• Awards

• Links

  → https://www.njidekaakunyilicrosby.com/

Then You Lost Me, 2013, Oil and acrylic on printed paper mounted on board, 2 ft.× 1.67 ft.

“The Beautyful Ones” Series #4, 2015, Acrylic, transfers and colored pencil on paper, 5.1 ft.× 3.5 ft.

“The Beautyful Ones” Series #9, 2018, Acrylic, color pencil, charcoal, transfers, and collage on paper, 75 in.× 75 1/2 in.

Super Blue Omo, 2016, Acrylic, transfers, colored pencil, collage on paper, 84 in.× 108 in.

“The Beautyful Ones” Series #7 2018, Acrylic, color pencil, and transfers on paper, 42 in.× 59 7/8 in.

Dwell: Aso Ebi, 2017, Acrylic, transfers, colored pencil, collage and commemorative fabric on paper, 96 in.× 124 in.

When the Going Is Smooth and Good, 2017, Acrylic, transfers, colored pencil, charcoal and collage on paper, 101 in.× 83.5 in.

“The Beautyful Ones” Series #5, 2016, Acrylic, transfers, colored pencil, pastel, collage and commemorative fabric on paper, 61.2 in.× 42 in.

See Through, 2016, Acrylic, transfers, colored pencil, charcoal, collage and commemorative fabric on paper, 61.2 in.× 51.96 in.

“The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born” Might Not Hold True For Much Longer, 2013, Acrylic and transfers on paper, 5.5 ft.× 7 ft.

Nigerian-American artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby investigates the intricacies of her hybrid identity within a globalised world through large-scale, multimedia paintings.

Born in Enugu, Nigeria in 1983, Akunyili Crosby relocated to the United States in 1999. She attended Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania, where she completed a double major in biology and studio art, later earning a post-baccalaureate certificate from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2006. In 2011, Akunyili Crosby went on to receive an MFA from the Yale School of Art, followed by an honorary doctorate from Swarthmore College in 2019.

Njideka Akunyili Crosby's paintings combine a range of media, including marble dust, paint, collage, photographic transfer, pencil, and fabric. Working generally on paper, Akunyili Crosby melds these means of expression to create layered and nuanced scenes of everyday life—most often, groups of people in vibrantly patterned domestic settings. The artist frequently incorporates her friends and family in these domestic scenes, combining elements from both Nigeria and the United States.

While Njideka Akunyili Crosby's formal art training took place within Western institutions, she preserves the influence of her Nigerian childhood and heritage in her paintings in order to, in her words, 'invent a new visual language that represents my experience—which at times feels paradoxically fractured and whole—as a cosmopolitan Nigerian.' Recurring elements in her paintings include rice bowls, Ikea furniture, and kerosene lamps, along with imagery and patterns gathered from sources such as family photos, commemorative cloth, and Nigerian publications.