Chiizii

Chiizii is an interdisciplinary artist, designer and researcher born in London and raised in New York and Igbo. Working heavily with but not limited to painting, collage and textile design, her work centres the specificities of Igbo, Nigerian and African experiences and histories. Her research aims to establish the significance of art in the communication and maintenance of Igbo food culture as well as the use of making art as a learning method and presenting art as a teaching method. Recent shows include RA Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy 2021, Collective Processes Gucci Circolo 2021, Blacklisted: An Indefinite Revolution and Christie's 2020.

Nni Bu Ogwu

Nni Bu Ogwu is an immersive, multidisciplinary research archive and teaching tool designed to educate and encourage conversation around pre and post-colonial Igbo diets.

 

It seeks to interrogate how Igbo Nigerians have used art to exchange food information whilst simultaneously investigating how art can be used as an accessible tool for educational enrichment. Nni Bu Ogwu which will also launch a multi-sited physical manifestation during London’s Frieze Week, is the result of a pilot three-month research residency awarded through Guest Projects Digital.

 

The project has been developed in partnership with Yinka Shonibare Foundation, Guest Projects Digital, University of the Arts London, The Research Centre for Transnational Art, Identity and Nation (TrAIN) and its Director, Professor Paul Goodwin.⁠ It is generously supported by the Genesis Foundation⁠.⁠

 

Ogoni 9 Exhibition at Queercircle

 

Guest Projects Digital alumni Chiizii has collaborated with Queercircle, London to produce a new multimedia work that occupies the Queercircle library and reading room. The piece titled Ogoni 9 uncovers the often-forgotten history of a group of activists known collectively as the Ogoni Nine who were killed by the Nigerian government after protesting the exploitation and degradation of their land by British oil companies. 

 

Chiizii was introduced to Queercirle by Y.S.F. during her Guest Projects Digital Residency in 2022 as part of a network and opportunity building initiative designed to help connect residents with organisations, galleries and institutions whose programmes are aligned with their practice.

 

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