Okwui Okpokwasili
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Okwui Okpokwasili (; born August 6, 1972) is an American artist, performer, choreographer, and writer. Her multidisciplinary performances draw upon her training in theatre, and she describes her work as at "the intersection of theatre, dance, and the installation." Several of her works relate to historical events in Nigeria. She is especially interested in cultural and historical memory and how the Western imagination perceives African bodies.


Early life

The daughter of Igbo Nigerians who moved to the United States to escape the
Nigerian Civil War The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Nigerian–Biafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence ...
in the late 1960s, Okpokwasili grew up in the
Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, New York."Okwui Okpokwasili by Jenn Joy" (interview), ''Bomb Magazine'', September 15, 2016.
/ref>Hilton Als
"Okwui Okpokwasili Explores Politics and the Body"
''The New Yorker'', April 24, 2017.
She attended
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
, where she met filmmaker
Andrew Rossi Andrew Rossi is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker, known for directing and writing ''The Andy Warhol Diaries'' (2022). Career Rossi is the founder oAbstract Productions a company that produces film and television. He was nominated for three Emmy Aw ...
, who made a documentary about her piece ''Bronx Gothic''.Tori Latham, "The Intimate World of the Performance Artist",''The Atlantic'', September 24, 2017.
/ref>


Career

Okpokwasili has become a key figure in the New York experimental dance scene. She is known for several one-woman performances and for her frequent collaborations with Ralph Lemon and Peter Born, her husband. Born often directs and designs the lighting and staging for Okpokwasili's performances. She is also known for her role in the music video for Jay-Z's album '' 4:44'' created by TNEG, a production company founded by Arthur Jafa. In April 2017, she performed at
Mass MOCA The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) is a museum in a converted Arnold Print Works factory building complex located in North Adams, Massachusetts. It is one of the largest centers for contemporary visual art and performing ar ...
, responding to Nick Cave's massive installation work ''Until'' with a site-specific dance. The performance was co-sponsored by
Jacob's Pillow Dance Jacob's Pillow is a dance center, school and performance space located in Becket, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. The organization is known for a Summer dance festival. The facility also includes a professional school and extensive archives a ...
; choreographer Bill T. Jones performed earlier in the series of artists responding to Cave's installation. She played the part of KK in
Josephine Decker Josephine Decker (born April 2, 1981) is an American actress, filmmaker, and performance artist. As of 2020 she has directed four experimental feature films: the psychological thriller '' Butter on the Latch'' (2013), the erotic thriller '' Thou ...
's 2018 film, ''
Madeline's Madeline ''Madeline's Madeline'' is a 2018 American drama film written and directed by Josephine Decker. It stars Helena Howard in the titular role, alongside Molly Parker as her teacher and Miranda July as her mother. Howard plays a teenage actor, M ...
''. In a theatrical role, Okpokwasili performed the part of Hippolyta in
Julie Taymor Julie Taymor (born December 15, 1952) is an American director and writer of theater, opera and film. Her stage adaptation of ''The Lion King'' debuted in 1997, and received eleven Tony Award nominations, with Taymor receiving Tony Awards for Best ...
's 2013 production of
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
's '' A Midsummer Night's Dream''.Jenna Scherer
Coil Festival: An Interview with Writer-Performer Okwui Okpokwasili
''Time Out New York'', January 6, 2013.


Works


''Pent Up: A Revenge Dance''

This was her first collaborative piece with her husband Born. She won a 2010 New York Dance Award and a 2009 Performance
Bessie Award The New York Dance and Performance Awards, also known as the Bessie Awards, are awarded annually for exceptional achievement by independent dance artists presenting their work in New York City. The broad categories of the awards are: choreography, ...
for Outstanding Production. Centering on a mother and daughter, the work considered cultural and generational clashes.


''Bronx Gothic''

In this 90-minute one-woman semi-autobiographical performance which she also choreographed, Okpokwasili plays two young black girls talking about growing up, feeling vulnerable, and discovering sexuality. As the audience enters, she is already on the stage and is trembling in a dark slip. Eventually, she begins to speak the dialogue of the two girls in conversation. The work is the subject of a documentary by
Andrew Rossi Andrew Rossi is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker, known for directing and writing ''The Andy Warhol Diaries'' (2022). Career Rossi is the founder oAbstract Productions a company that produces film and television. He was nominated for three Emmy Aw ...
that shares the title of the performance work. The film illuminates the process of creating the work; includes clips of Okpokwasili answering questions from the audience when she toured the piece, and candid discussions with her husband about race; and features her parents and their reaction to her art. Cultural critic Hilton Als praised this piece in a 2017 review of ''Poor People's TV Room''. The piece was commissioned by
Danspace Project Danspace Project is a performance venue for contemporary dance. Its performances are held in St. Mark's Church in the East Village area of the Manhattan borough of New York City. History Founded in 1974 by Barbara Dilley, Mary Overlie, and Larr ...
and
Performance Space 122 Performance Space New York, formerly known as Performance Space 122 or P.S. 122, is a non-profitable arts organization founded in 1980 in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan in an abandoned public school building. Origin The former eleme ...
in 2014."Okwui Okpokwasili's ''Bronx Gothic'': a new documentary at Film Forum"
Danspace project, July 7, 2017.


''when I return who will receive me''

A group performance involving seven female performers singing, speaking, and dancing, this work was staged in the underground magazine of Fort Jay at
Governors Island Governors Island is a island in New York Harbor, within the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located approximately south of Manhattan Island, and is separated from Brooklyn to the east by the Buttermilk Channel. The National Park ...
in July 2016 as part of
The River to River Festival The River To River Festival is an annual arts festival held in summer in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The festival presents live art and installations in public spaces and in partnership with institutions in Lower Manhattan. It is presented b ...
.Christina Knight
"Okwui Okpokwasili: A Q&A on Research and Performance"
''Thirteen''.
This performance included fragments of research on Nigerian history as it relates to women's bodies that were used to develop ''Poor People's TV Room''. During the two-hour duration of the performance, the audience was permitted to move through the space of the military cavern, while the performers moved throughout the installation spaces. The work was commissioned by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.


''Poor People's TV Room''

This work considers the subject of women's resistance movements in Nigeria, specifically the
Women's War The Women's War, or Aba Women's Protest ( Igbo: ''Ogu Umunwanyi''; Ibibio: ''Ekong Iban''), was a period of unrest in colonial Nigeria over November 1929. The protests broke out when thousands of Igbo women from the Bende District, Umuahia an ...
in 1929, when the country was under British rule, and the kidnapping of 300 schoolgirls in 2014 by Boko Haram. As part of this project, Okpokwasili also researched the film industry in Nigeria, known as
Nollywood Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in ''The New York Times''. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there ...
, considering representations of women in a cinema where African and Western cultures intersect.Ivan Talijancic
"Divining the Shadows: Okwui Okpokwasili's ''Poor People's TV Room''"
''
The Brooklyn Rail ''The Brooklyn Rail'' is a publication and platform for the arts, culture, humanities, and politics. The ''Rail'' is based out of Brooklyn, New York. It features in-depth critical essays, fiction, poetry, as well as interviews with artists, criti ...
'', April 1, 2017.
In an interview with Jenn Joy for '' Bomb'' magazine, Okpokwasili stated that the piece "is about a critical absence that I feel when a tragedy happens—like the kidnapping of girls by Boko Haram and the Women's War in Nigeria. My work is not explicitly about the incredible women in northern Nigeria who came together to shame their government into doing something to get these 300 abducted girls back. African women are not just victims of colonizers and oppressive or corrupt governments. They have been building collectives and advocating and fighting to be visible for a long time. I don’t want to make documentary work—but I don’t want these women to disappear, either. My piece is about visibility." She has cited as a major influence the Nigerian novelist Amos Tutuola, who is known for incorporating elements of Yoruba folklore into his works. The research Okpokwasili completed for ''Poor People's TV Room'' also informed ''Sitting on a Man’s Head'', a work the artist presented at the 2018 Berlin Biennale.


Awards and honors

Okpokwasili has received several Bessie Awards for her performances, including in works she has written and developed herself. In 2018, she was named a
MacArthur Fellow The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...
, a prestigious "Genius Award" intended to enable recipients to further develop their talent.


Residencies

*2013: New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Choreography *2013: Visiting Artist at
Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...
with Ralph Lemon *2014–15: Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Extended Life Program *2016: Creative Capital Grant *2015–17: Randjelovic/Stryker Commissioned Artist at New York Live Arts


References


External links


Excerpt of ''Bronx Gothic'' performance

Trailer of ''Bronx Gothic'' documentary

BRIC TV video on her artistic process
* Aubrey F. Burghardt
"Q&A: Retracing Narratives With MacArthur Genius Okwui Okpokwasili"
''Byline Houston'', April 12, 2019. {{DEFAULTSORT:Okpokwasili, Okwui 1972 births Living people 21st-century American women artists American choreographers American people of Nigerian descent American performance artists American women choreographers Artists from the Bronx Women performance artists Yale University alumni MacArthur Fellows