ruby onyinyechi amanze (born 1982), is a Nigerian-born British-American artist noted for

drawing Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surface. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayons, ...

s and works on paper which focus on cultural hybridity or "post-colonial non-nationalism." In addition to being an artist, she has also worked as a teacher and curator. She lives in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York.

Early life and education

Amanze was born in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

in 1982. She was raised in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, living there for 13 years before coming to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 2004 when she moved to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. She received a B.F.A. degree ''summa cum laude'' from the

Tyler School of Art The Tyler School of Art and Architecture is based at Temple University, a large, urban, public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Tyler currently enrolls about 1,350 undergraduate students and about 200 graduate students in a wid ...

at Philadelphia's

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

in 2004. She received her M.F.A degree from

Cranbrook Academy of Art The Cranbrook Educational Community is an education, research, and public museum complex in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. This National Historic Landmark was founded in the early 20th century by newspaper mogul George Gough Booth. It consists of Cr ...

, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Work

Amanze's graphite, ink and pigment

drawings Drawing is a form of Visual arts, visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surface. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, ...

, often combined with photo transfers, are populated by hybrid creatures that exist in multi-geographic spaces, floating in the white space of their paper substrate. She is greatly influenced by Nigerian artists and the Nigerian history of drawing. Her mixed-media drawings center on the concept of displacement and cultural hybridity. Drawing has become her primary medium, with Amanze describing it as "constantly reinventing itself". Despite working with various mediums, her current pieces are all centered around drawing, a favorite medium since childhood. Only in college did she depart from drawing as her primary medium, instead majoring in the art of photography and textiles. Influenced by textile design, photography, print-making and architecture, her work conveys cultural displacement, anxiety, and identity, inspired by her “pieced-together memories” of Nigeria. These works explore a sense of displacement and existence between places, evoking feelings of homesickness and longing.

Awards and residencies

Amanze earned a

Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

in 2012, and was a recipient of the Fulbright Scholars Award for Teaching/Research at the

University of Nigeria The University of Nigeria, commonly referred to as UNN, is a federal university located in Nsukka, Enugu State, Eastern part of Nigeria. Founded by Nnamdi Azikiwe in 1955 and formally opened on 7 October 1960, the University of Nigeria has thr ...

, Nsukka (2013). From 2015 to 2016 Amanze was an Opens Sessions participant at the

Drawing Center The Drawing Center is a Manhattan, New York, museum and a nonprofit exhibition space that focuses on the exhibition of drawings, both historical and contemporary. History The Drawing Center was founded by former assistant curator of drawings at ...

, New York. Amanze was an Artist-in-Residence at the

Cooper Union School of Art The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

in New York, NY in 2011, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council from 2014 to 2015, the Fountainhead Residency in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

in 2015, and the

Queens Museum The Queens Museum, formerly the Queens Museum of Art, is an art museum and educational center located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in the borough of Queens in New York City, United States. The museum was founded in 1972, and has among its pe ...

in Queens, New York, from 2016 to 2017.

Selected exhibitions

Amanze has exhibited internationally. Her solo exhibitions include: * ''there are even moonbeams we can unfold'' (2018) at

Goodman Gallery Goodman Gallery is an art gallery founded in Johannesburg, South Africa by Linda Givon (previously Goodman) in 1966. The gallery operates spaces in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and London. It represents both established and emerging artists who are re ...

Cape Town, South Africa Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislature, legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the sec ...

* ''Salt Water'' (2015) at

, Johannesburg, South Africa * ''astroturf rooftop picnics'' (2015) at Morgan Lehman Gallery,

New York, NY New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

* ''a story. in parts.'' (2015) at Tiwani Contemporary,

London, UK London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

* ''The Armory Show Focus'' (2016) at Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, Seattle, WA * ''STAR FISH'' (2017) at

Smack Mellon Smack Mellon is a non-profit arts organization located at 92 Plymouth Street, in Dumbo, Brooklyn. Smack Mellon supports emerging, under-recognized mid-career, and women artists through a highly regarded exhibition program, competitive studio re ...

, Brooklyn, NY

Collections

Amanze's work is held in permanent collections including: * Deutsche Bank, London, U.K. * The Jewish Museum, New York, USA *The

Studio Museum in Harlem The Studio Museum in Harlem is an American art museum devoted to the work of artists of African descent. The museum's galleries are currently closed in preparation for a building project that will replace the current building, located at 144 W ...

, New York, USA *The Microsoft Collection *Montblanc Cultural Foundation

Notes

References

External links

Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze at Goodman Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amanze, Ruby Onyinyechi 1982 births African-American artists American contemporary artists British contemporary artists Draughtsmen Living people Nigerian contemporary artists Nigerian women artists Temple University alumni Cranbrook Academy of Art alumni 21st-century African-American artists 20th-century African-American people British women curators Nigerian women curators American women curators American curators