Born in Rochester, USA in 1984.
She lives and works between Lagos in Nigeria, the United States and Jamaica.
As a visual artist, Temitayo Ogunbiyi works with a variety of media, exploring their possibilities and variations through installation, sculpture, collage and drawing.
Living between two continents, the essential thing for her is to produce a work that is always connected to the space in which it is created. Her work questions the exhibition space by highlighting the relationships and ways of communication that are created between the object and its surroundings.
Since 2016, she has focused her practice on drawing, taking an interest in mixing forms and inventing unexpected fusions between Nigerian hairstyles and geometric lines with botanical elements inspired by ancient natural history plates. Through the precision of the line and the organic development of the forms, she questions her plural heritage and diasporic culture. With an intimist drawing mixing ethnological and botanical references, the artist tries to find a path in a fragile balance between her personal story and the movements in History at large.
Trained at Princeton and Columbia University, Temitayo Ogunbiyi participated in the 2012 group show entitled The Progress of Love at the Pulitzer Art Foundation in St. Louis and with the Center for Contemporary Art in Lagos. She has also collaborated with Tiwani Contemporary Gallery in London in 2016, Medium Tings Gallery in Brooklyn in 2017, Gallery of Small Things in Dakar in 2018 and for the exhibition Women on Aeroplanes at TOR Art Space in Frankfurt. She has exhibited in 2015 at the Jogjia Biennale in Indonesia, Dakar OFF Biennale in 2014, 10th Berlin Biennale in 2018 and 2nd Lagos Biennale in 2019. In 2018, she is a recipient of the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship.
She has been collaborating with the 31 PROJECT since 2020. In the same year, the Madre Museum in Naples commissioned her to create the site-specific installation You will play in the every day and the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris has included several of her drawings in its collections.
CURRICULUM VITAE
SOLO SHOWS
2020
You will play in the everyday, running (curatée par Kathryn Weir), Museo Madre, Naples – Italy
Capillarité, 31 PROJECT, Paris - France
2018
You will find peace and play among palm trees, Freedom Park Playground, Lagos – Nigeria
2017
Nothing in Nature is Private, Medium Tings Gallery, New York City – USA
2014
A Nightmare’s Daydreams, Kongi’s Harvest Gallery, Freedom Park,
Lagos – Nigeria
2013
Of Kinks, Community, and the Next Repetition, ‘a whitespace’, Lagos – Nigeria
2012
‘WW’ Independence Series, Wheatbaker Hotel, Lagos – Nigeria
My Lagos in Fragments, Wheatbaker Hotel, Lagos – Nigeria
And We Crossed the Atlantic Together, Eko Hotel, Lagos – Nigeria
Possibilities of the Past’s Progress, Freedom Park, Lagos – Nigeria
Am I a Thief, Freies Museum, Berlin – Allemagne / Perm Museum of Contemporary Art, Perm – Russia
2011
New Paintings, The Board Room, Lagos – Nigeria
2010
Broken Weaves, TerraKulture Gallery, Lagos – Nigeria
branded:topographic keloids of a feather, Black Ink Gallery, New York – USA
2009
Mom Calls ‘Em Chinee Bumps, Tamboril Gallery, Brooklyn, New York – USA
2006
Extended Extensions, Lucas Gallery, Princeton University, New Jersey – USA
GROUP SHOWS
2021
ART-O-RAMA, 31 PROJECT, Marseille – France
1-54, 31 PROJECT, London - UK
Imaginaires émancipés, AKAA, 31 PROJECT, Lyon - France
2020
Galeristes, 31 PROJECT, Paris – France
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, 31 PROJECT, Cape Town – South Africa
Art Paris Art Fair, 31 PROJECT, Paris – France
2019
2nd Lagos Biennial, Lagos – Nigeria
Women on Aeroplanes, TOR Art Space, Francfort – Germany
2018
Strange Attractors (curatorial publication created on the occasion of the 10th Berlin Biennale), Berlin Biennale 10, Berlin – Germany
Talisman in the Age of Difference (curated by Yinka Shonibare), Stephen Friedman Gallery, London – UK
Gallery of Small Things (curated by Bisi Silva), Dakar – Senegal
Women on Aeroplanes, Lagos Edition, Centre for Contemporary Art,
Lagos – Nigeria
2017
Gallery of Small Things (commissariat d'exposition : Bisi Silva), Federal Palace, Lagos – Nigeria
The Summer Show, TAFETA Gallery, London – UK
1:54 New York, TAFETA Gallery – USA
2016
The Pineapple Show, Tiwani Contemporary Gallery, London – UK
2015
Biennale Jogja XIII: Hacking Conflict—Indonesia Meets Nigeria,
Jogja – Indonesia
2014
Dak’art OFF!, Galerie Attis, Dakar – Senegal
DACHWOOD UND ZEICHNUNG, Marthashof Strasse, Berlin – Germany
2013
Nigeria Now, Ake Book and Arts Festival - The Shadow of Memory,
Abeokuta – Nigeria
Six Draughtsmen, Museum for Contemporary Diasporan Art,
New York City – USA
The Progress of Love, The Pulitzer Art Foundation, St. Louis - USA and Center for Contemporary Art, Lagos – Nigeria
2012
‘WW’ Independence Series, Wheatbaker Hotel, Lagos – Nigeria
The Progress of Love, The Pulitzer Art Foundation, St. Louis, USA /Center for Contemporary Art Lagos – Nigeria / Keunstlerhaus Bethanien,
Berlin – Germany
Nigeria House, Theater Royale, London – UK
2011
Documenting Changes in our Nation, Civic Centre, Lagos – Nigeria
All We Ever Wanted, CCA Lagos – Nigeria
A kilo of Hope, Yusuf Grillo Gallery, Lagos – Nigeria
The Critiques, Third Streaming, New York – USA
Poznan Biennale, Poznan – Poland
An Exchange with Sol LeWitt, Mass MoCA/Cabinet , North Adams – USA
2010
Boomerang Biennale for works on paper and video, Perm Museum of Contemporary Art, Perm – Russia
Ready, Set, Create, NARS Gallery, Brooklyn, New York – USA
Fields of Play ( commissariat d'exposition : Anastasia Stein), Crazycurators’ Biennale, Bratislava – Slovakia
Do it Yourself (curated by : Derrick Adams), The Dash Gallery,
New York – USA
Durfen wir bitten, Berlin Art Projects, Berlin – Germany
40, Kaufbar, Berlin – Germany
Life After Death: A Multi-Media Analysis of the Persona that Was/Is Fela Anikulapo Kuti (curated by : Shantrelle Lewis), Caribbean Cultural Center , New York – USA
heed the machine, illustrious, Williamsburg, New York – USA
Art Show on “The Street”, Clark Muñoz Gallery, Princeton, New Jersey – USA
2006
Social Pattern, Mathey College, Princeton University, New Jersey – USA
Emerging Talent, Merrill Lynch, Pennington, New Jersey New Jersey – USA
2005
Yale/Norfolk – USA
RESIDENCIES
2018
Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship , Washington – USA
2011
Wasanii/Triangle Arts International Artist Workshop, Kuona Trust,
Nairobi – Kenya
A kilo of Hope, Isolo Dumping Ground, Lagos – Nigeria
Omo Oba Yemisi Shyllon Art Foundation/UniLag,
Art and Entrepeneurship – Nigeria
AWARDS
2014
Ford Foundation, The Global Travel and Learning Fund, Grantee
2011
Foundation for Contemporary Art Emergency Grant for Public Exhibition
2006
Princeton University, 2006: Herbert L. Lucas Scholarship, African-American Studies Research Grant
2006
Ruth J. Simmons Thesis Prize in African-American Studies
2005
Princeton University, Lucas Fellowship Grant, Fred Fox Fund Grant, Lucas Grant, African-American Studies Research Grant
EDUCATION
2011
Columbia University, MA in Modern and Contemporary Art/Curatorial Studies and Critical Art Theory
2006
Princeton University, magna cum laude, A.B.
2005
Yale School of Art, Norfolk Summer Residency Program
WITH 31 PROJECT
PUBLICATION
2020
Capillarité
EXHIBITIONS
2020
SMALL, group show
Capillarité, solo show
ARTFAIRS
2021
ART-O-RAMA, 31 PROJECT, Marseille – France
1-54, 31 PROJECT, London - UK
Imaginaires émancipés, AKAA, 31 PROJECT, Lyon - France
2020
Galeristes, Paris
Art Paris Art Fair, Paris
Cape Town Art Fair, Le Cap