In it’s inaugural exhibition the new contemporary art space Sakhile&Me presents “Embodiment” – a selection of 16 mixed media works and a video installation by artist Nnenna Okore.

The exhibition will run from September 7 until November 30, 2018 and is the artist’s first solo show in Germany. A bi-lingual catalogue will be published to accompany the exhibition.

“Nnenna Okore: Embodiment” shows abstract works made from burlap, cheesecloth, manila rope, yarn, paper, wire, dye and acrylic. They form richly textured fiber sculptures sprouting from the walls like organisms growing out to meet the space. The exhibition also shows new textured acrylic, gesso and clay paintings reminiscent of fossil-like structures and topographic landscapes, inviting the viewer to contemplate the passing of time and prompting an excavation of life forms drawn from memory and imagination.

Nnenna Okore is well known for her fiber works whose intricate textures and vibrant colors reference organic elements such as plants, roots or veins and explore themes of transience and transformation. Similarly, references to nature are presented through a series of organic and cellular arrangements in her new paintings. “Theatrical randomness, repetition and connections are at the core of these new pieces”, Okore says. “Captured in the familiar yet rugged terrain of their surfaces are references to the uneven rhythms of life. Intricate textures borne out in vivid patterns and colors embody the complexities of our transient existence laced with irregularities, uncertainty, sterility or opulence of time.”

Nnenna Okore was born in Australia, raised in Nigeria and Swaziland and is currently Chair of the Art Department at North Park University in Chicago. She has received her bachelor’s degree in fine and applied arts from the University of Nigeria Nsukka and her master of fine arts degree from the University of Iowa and has trained with El Anatsui, Chike Aniakor, and Chijioke Onuora. Over the last two decades, the 2012 Fulbright Fellow has shown internationally in over 100 solo and group exhibitions, spanning the United States of America, India, Dubai, Brazil, Nigeria, France, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Denmark. Okore lives and works in both Nigeria and Illinois.

Sakhile&Me is a new contemporary art space based in downtown Frankfurt working with emerging and established international artists, creative entrepreneurs and curators, with a particular focus on Africa and its many diasporas. The gallery’s two founders, Sakhile Matlhare and Daniel Hagemeier, received bachelor’s degrees from Hamilton College and master’s degrees from the University of Sydney. Matlhare then pursued a doctoral degree at Northwestern University focusing on how contemporary artists work alongside curators, art historians and other art experts in the gatekeeping process, within and beyond the rubric of contemporary African art. Hagemeier has worked with his father, Achim Hagemeier (Kunsthandel Hagemeier), for the past four years, specializing in German Expressionist and classical modern art.

Sakhile&Me
Exhibition Space for International Contemporary Art
Oberlindau 7
D-60323 Frankfurt am Main

www.sakhileandme.com