I think people sensationalise places in their heads, so I wanted to show just how normal life is in Nigeria - Nigerian Artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby Explains Why Many Of The Figures In Her Paintings Are Doing Nothing

 

Njideka Akunyili Crosby with her diptych painting Garden, Thriving, 2016. Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian

Njideka Akunyili Crosby is the daughter of Late Dora Akunyili and an artist based in Los Angeles.
She studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia and Yale University School of Art in New Haven, Conn.


In an article by the Guardian UK titled, “The Nigerian artist who is exploding the myth of the ‘authentic African experience'”, Njideka explained that the reason most of the figures in her paintings were doing nothing was because she wanted to reveal that life in Nigeria was normal despite the several challenges facing the country.
“Well, what is authentic – you think we don’t have these issues in Nigeria, too? Stuck in traffic, 30 minutes late for a meeting – that is the bulk of life. It’s a horrible example, but even in the midst of a tragedy like the Ebola epidemic – most people are probably just living their lives. That’s why so many of my figures [in the paintings] are really doing nothing. I think people sensationalise places in their heads, so I wanted to show just how normal life is in Nigeria.” she said
Njideka has been awarded the Prix Canson 2016, the 2015 Next Generation prize at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, the 2015 Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize at the Studio Museum in Harlem, and was listed in Foreign Policy’s Leading 100 Global Thinkers of 2015.

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