Adjani Okpu-Egbe is a Cameroonian-born multidisciplinary artist currently living and working in London. Okpu-Egbe was born in Southern Cameroon, also known as Ambazonia, a self-declared independent state. Much of the artist’s practice relates to his homeland and the socio-politics of the African continent at large.
Okpu-Egbe works in a variety of media, including a number of found materials such as bubble wrap and doors upon which he paints and creates assemblages. With these unusual media, the artist depicts rudimentary figures which hover between the human and the imagined, typically created in bold primary colours, applied in large, flat planes.
A hallmark feature of Okpu-Egbe’s works is the inclusion of mathematical symbols and formulae, nodding to his upbringing and the pressure he felt to conform to a mainstream career choice such as in economics or accounting. As such, much of his output is autobiographical, mixed in with themes relating to political activism, Afrocentricity, patriarchy and more.
Okpu-Egbe’s first solo exhibition, Letting Go was shown in 2012 at the Mok Space Gallery, Bloomsbury. Since then, the artist’s work has featured in a number of impressive shows around the globe, including in 2016 at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, in 2018 at the Tate Modern, London, and at a number of appearances–including a solo presentation–at 1-54 African Art Fair in Somerset House, London. Okpu-Egbe has also participated in a number of international residencies, including most recently at the International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP), New York
