Contemporary Art in Context: Nnenna Okore

Compared to the art exhibited only fifty years ago, contemporary art has greatly expanded the range of media and artforms, modes of expression, and compelling subject matter. One of the most significant movements in contemporary art, practiced across the whole spectrum of artforms, is the use of upcycled materials.
Artist Nnenna Okore addresses ecological concerns such as waste, carbon emissions, and energy consumption in her stunningly beautiful sculptures and installations. Her work itself is a solution to these issues, as she creates the media from plant-based materials such as food waste, resulting in a lower environmental impact.

Artworks and Process
Most of Okore’s artworks are inspired by forms in nature, often resembling roots, stamens, petals, tree limbs, or the topography of her childhood in Nigeria. She uses biodegradable materials, such as bioplastics, to raise awareness about sustainable practices in art-making. Bioplastics are plastics made from renewable biological resources such as vegetable fats, food starch, and food waste. She also includes biodegradable materials like cheesecloth, burlap, found paper, fibers, coffee, and clay, often sourced from West Africa. She employs time-consuming and labor-intensive processes like fraying, twisting, weaving, sewing, and dyeing. These processes are reminiscent of childhood experiences where she participated in daily chores such as cooking, washing, harvesting, or making brooms from natural materials.

While Okore initially studied painting in college because of her love of color, her appreciation of tactility moved her to combine what she calls “loud color” with sculpture. In Spirit Dance, she created a cloud-like environment in the four-story atrium of the Stanley Museum of Art at the University of Iowa. Incorporating responsibly sourced rope, cloth, paper, and wire, Spirit Dance represents the African belief that every aspect of nature—human and nonhuman—contain spirits that can help humanity and affect change. Air currents move the diaphanous materials to simulate the movement of spirits or the natural movement of the wind.

In/Flux explores Okore’s ongoing concern with the prevalent world problem of food waste. Made from food scraps such as banana peels, expired berries, and orange peels, which were turned into a bioplastic, the installation affords the viewer a visual and olfactory experience to encourage discussions about waste.

Art History: Upcycled Materials
Although earlier examples of reusing materials were often for the sake of convenience because of the value of the medium (such as marble or bronze, for example), the use of upcycled materials has been part of the artistic process for centuries. One of the earliest examples of recycled paper comes from Japan, where paper was reused in certain Buddhist texts as early as the 800s CE.

The use of upcycled materials by artists for the sake of keeping materials from landfills evolved during the 1960s environmental movement, which was primarily concerned with pollution. In the twenty-first century, the issue is climate change and how decaying materials add to that problem. In both instances, the result of reusing materials or objects to create a new work of art is an act of rescuing discarded materials and “passing on the beauty” in a different form. Whether the purpose is to save money or save the environment from overloaded landfills, beautiful new art is created.

About the Artist
Nnenna Okore was born in 1975 in Canberra, Australia, to Nigerian parents from Ututu. At the age of four, the family returned to Nsukka, where her parents worked at the University of Nigeria. After graduating from secondary school, she moved to Swaziland, where her father worked for the United Nations. There, she attended Waterford Kamhlaba United World College. She then attended the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (1995–1999), graduating with a BA in fine and applied arts. She attained an MFA in sculpture from the University of Iowa in 2005. After graduation, she became an assistant professor at North Park University in Chicago, where she became a full professor and chair of the fine arts department in 2015. In 2023, she received her Ph.D. in fine art from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. Her artworks have been exhibited in major museums both nationally and internationally.

ARTIST Q&A
What are some of the biggest influences on your work?
NO: Iʼve had many influences in my practice. The natural environment is one of my greatest influences. I love plants and how connected they are to everything. My Igbo culture greatly influences how I think as an artist. For instance, the Igbo philosophy related to lifeʼs cyclic nature inspires me to work with biodegradable materials, which I believe will one day return to the earth as nourishment to plant and animal life. Some artists who have inspired me include Sheila Hicks, Magdalena Abakanowicz, and El Anatsui.

What is a typical workday like for you? How do you balance teaching with your art practice?
NO: Balancing teaching and art practice can be quite challenging, not the least because you have to manage all that with family life. But to make it work, I apportion equal time and space for my art, teaching, and family life. I make sure I have a couple of days during the week to create art, then I teach three days a week. The rest of my time I spend with my family.

On a typical day at the studio, I start by brainstorming and gathering different sources of inspiration from books, magazines, and digital media. Then I make sketches before preparing the materials I need. Since I work on large-scale artwork, I spend most of my time creating different parts of the piece that I assemble in the end.

What is your process for choosing materials for your installations?
NO: I work with many materials including jute, hessian, cheesecloth, fabric, paper, wire, clay, and even bioplastic. The materials I use in each work depend on my intention for the piece. For instance, if I want a tactile surface, I might use paper or clay to achieve that. If itʼs intended for the piece to be suspended or floated, I might use cheesecloth. But regardless of which materials I use, I am always thinking about creating an unforgettable visceral experience for the viewer. So, I encourage people to touch or feel the materials in my installation.

How do your choices of materials change when creating installations far from home?
NO: The distance or location of the piece does not affect the work most times because I make them in my studio and ship them to the site. But sometimes when I travel to a location, I use the materials sourced there. I like this option as it allows me to work with the people and materials in the new location.

What advice could you give students about the artistic process (not just the end result)?
NO: For students, itʼs always important to remember that when you are making art, you are collaborating with your materials. You have a say and they have a say. So, be attentive to the nature of the materials you are using. An example is if you are working with fabric but want to create a ball with it—because the fabric is soft and floppy, it wonʼt hold its form easily to make a ball structure. So, itʼs better to think about what the fabric wants. Maybe it wants to be a jellyfish instead. Itʼs about finding the best use of the material and enabling the process that allows it to become what you want.

The second thing is to permit yourself to make mistakes. Mistakes are our best teachers. When something goes wrong, never get upset, and instead learn about what can be done better in the next iteration. Donʼt be afraid to try again when you fail. It gets better with every attempt.

What advice do you have for emerging or aspiring artists?
NO: As a young artist, I was in a hurry to put my work out there, even when I wasnʼt quite ready to do so. My advice to upcoming artists is to take time to learn as much as possible before showcasing yourself as an artist. And by this, I donʼt just mean understanding your craft, but I mean learning the business part of being an artist—how to document your art or price your art, how to get gallery representation, or how to negotiate fair pricing for your art. The business of being an artist is not often taught in school. So, find a mentor who will show you the ropes so you donʼt start on the wrong footing in your creative career.