STARTUP 4 | Page 77

Akunyili Crosby builds up the transfer images of popular culture to reference traditional African textiles, creating quilt-like pieces that speak to post-colonial identities and traditions being pieced together. Her first paintings navigated the domestic landscape of life with her new American husband and intimate scenes of their wedding and home. The Predecessors mines deeper into Akunyili Crosby’s past, collecting portraits of her Nigerian family in a range of domestic settings. This exhibition will unite this seminal series for the first time, bringing together individual pieces from London, Johannesburg, New York and Los Angeles to celebrate a formative body in an artist’s rapidly emerging voice.

Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Mama, Mummy and Mamma, 2014

Acrylic, color pencils, charcoal and transfers on paper, 213.36 x 365.76 cm, 84 x 144 in

Courtesy the Artist and Victoria Miro, London (Photography Mario Todeschini)

© Njideka Akunyili Crosby