Jebila Okongwu: Divination Paintings

Jebila Okongwu critiques stereotypes of Africa and African identity and repurposes them as counterstrategies, drawing on African history, symbolism and spirituality. 

One of his preferred materials is banana boxes; their tropicalized graphics articulate an ‘exotic’ provenance, much like the exoticization of African bodies from an ethnocentric perspective. When these boxes are shipped to the West from Africa, the Caribbean and South America, old routes of slavery are retraced, accentuating existing patterns of migration, trade and exploitation.

Born in London and then raised in Nigeria and Australia, Okongwu currently lives and works in Rome. He received a BA in Visual Art from Monash University, Melbourne, and a Graduate Diploma in Fine Art from the University of Melbourne. His work has been exhibited at prominent international institutions including the American Academy in Rome (2015), the Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples (2014), and the MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome (2013). His work is featured in the recently released ‘100 Sculptors of Tomorrow’ published by Thames and Hudson, and ‘Graphite Interdisciplinary Arts Journal’ published by the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles.

Okongwu’s works are currently exhibited in the exhibition Friends and Friends of Friends, curated by Inga Kleinknecht at Schlossmuseum in Linz, Austria.