Chioma Ebinama
CHIOMA EBINAMA BORN 1988, USA
LIVES AND WORKS BETWEEN LAGOS AND ATHENS
Chioma Ebinama makes figurative watercolors on paper to explore drawing and visual narrative as a meditative practice and tool for self-liberation. Raised in the United States by Nigerian Christian immigrants, she is drawn to the aesthetic of formalized religion for its potential to celebrate inner life. As she seeks to create new mythologies for the African Diaspora, her work is influenced by a myriad of sources, from West African cosmology, to folk art of the global South, to the visual language of Western religion and Eastern spiritual traditions. Also prevalent is her reflection on gender and queer identities through a figurative language influenced by surrealism and Igbo culture. The collision of aesthetics is indicative of Ebinama’s nomadic life in recent years as she breathes the air of Mexico, South Korea, India, Malaysia, and now Greece.
Ebinama has mounted solo exhibitions at Catinca Tabacaru (2018) and Fortnight Institute (2020) in New York City, at Boys’ Quarters Project Space in Port Harcourt, Nigeria (2019), and upcoming at The Breeder in Athens, Greece (2020). She is also in the process of illustrating a children’s book written by Kevin Young, poetry editor of The New Yorker and Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, with Make Me A World, an imprint of Random House books curated by Christopher Myers.
BORN 1988, MARYLAND, USA
NIGERIAN; CURRENTLY LIVES AND WORKS IN ATHENS
EDUCATION
- 2016
- School of Visual Arts – MFA Illustration as Visual Essay
- 2010
- Boston College – BFA Sociology Chestnut Hill, MA
MUSEUM & BIENNIAL EXHIBITIONS
- 2020
Never Done: 100 Years of Women in Politics and Beyond, The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York
- 2018
- In a Silent Way, Dak’Art Biennial Off-Site, Dakar, Senegal; Co-Curators: Bisi Silvia & Stephanie Baptist
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
- 2020
Leave The Thorns And Take The Rose, Breeder Gallery, Athens, Greece
Now I only believe in… Love, Fortnight Institute, New York- 2019
mammywater, BAF Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Anunu: Notes on the Divine Feminine, Boys’ Quarters Project Space, Port Harcourt, Nigeria; Curator: Zina Saro Wiwa- 2018
- Gods of the Wilderness, IAMISIGO Showroom, Lagos, Nigeria; Curator: Bubu Ogisi
penumbras, Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, New York; Curator: Raphael Guilbert
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
- 2020
Alien Landscape, 303 Gallery, New York, NY
Ambra Nera, The Breeder Gallery, Athens Greece- 2019
Crossing The Sands Art Exhibition, Governor’s Island, Nolan Park 10; Curated by the West Harlem Art Fund
Playground, Dotfiftyone Gallery, Miami; Curators: Veronica Flom & Camilo Godoy
Interior Landscapes, Assembly Room, New York; Curators: Natasha Becker, Paola Gallio, Yulia Topichy
Proceso-Progreso, La Salita, New York; Curators: Elena K Gonzalez & Diego Anaya
BOOKS / PUBLICATIONS
- 2022
Illustrations, Emile and the Field, Author: Kevin Young, Random House Children’s Books, Make Me A World (imprint) (Upcoming)
- 2019
Essay, The Pink Book, Author: Kaye Blegvad, Chronicle Books
Cover art, Girl, Author: Edna O’Brien,Farrar, Straus & Giroux
RESIDENCIES
- 2019
- pocoapoco A.I.R., Oaxaca, Mexico
Studio 401 New York A.I.R., Brooklyn, NY - 2018
- 16 by 16 / A.I.R., Lagos, Nigeria
Canal Street Market Residency, New York
AWARDS
- 2016
- Silver Medal, 3×3 Magazine International Illustration
SVA Alumni Illustration Award - 2015
- Joan Coyne Illustration Award
- 2014
- Joan Coyne Illustration Award
COLLECTIONS
ILHAM Foundation, Kuala Lumpur, Malasiya
Tschabalala Self, New York
Take Two Interactive, New York
Wellington Management Collection, Boston
Tiroche DeLeon Collection, Tel Aviv, Israel