EKENE EMEKA-MADUKA NIGERIAN, b. 1996

"Painting gives me the liberty of creating multiple renditions of myself within the space of a single picture plane. It allows me to present different expressions or personalities while choosing how much of myself is given and how much is manipulated. Viewers might see the work and relate to each figure or character on a different level and to the different experiences that they might portray. One thing that remains important with painting myself is the ability to also become the viewer to challenge my own biases and question the story that I'm telling."

Emeka-Maduka's practice combines lived and formulated events relating to notions of displacement, self representation and reconstructing identity. Her work often investigates the effects of cultural, social and political exposure on developing individual identity and its relationship to communal experience.

 

While formally representational, Maduka's works encompass nuanced explorations of abstract themes like memory, displacement and femininity. Dedicated to what she calls "the study of the self", the figures, while they are repeated versions of herself, they each assume their own persona, drawing attention to the performativity of identity.

 

Emeka-Maduka was born in Nigeria in 1996, she grew up in Kano, Nigeria and now lives and works in Winnipeg, Canada. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from University of Manitoba, Canada. In 2018, Emeka-Maduka was one of the recipients of the Dean Collection award founded by Swizz Beats and Alicia Keys and in 2019.