About
nwaọ is a Nigerian-American, queer and agender multi-disciplinary artist and archivist. Their work is a critical analysis and reimagining of Black physical and spiritual being within African historical and cultural contexts. nwaọ drives conversations about queerness and gender identity within the collective, cultural, and contemporary memory of the African Diaspora.
nwaọ was a 2024 VisArts Fleur and Charles Bresler Resident, a 2020 Bakanal de Afrique Artist Fellow, and a 2020 Kolaj Institute Collage Lab Artist. As a DJ, nwaọ mixes Afro-Diasporic genres to cultivate spaces of freedom and community. They have deejayed for crowds in Nairobi, Kenya, Cape Town, South Africa, Accra, Ghana, London, UK, Salvador, Brasil, and the DMV, USA. nwaọ is the former bassist for the Nairobi-based band Something African.
Workshops & Talks:
2020 Artist Talk, Bakanal de Afrique festival
2020 Intimacy Workshop, Amherst College Multicultural Resource Center
2020 Breaking the Silence, International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia Festival, AfroQueer Podcast
2020 Art Talk, AfroQueer Live Fest
Exhibitions:
2023 a new memory, 'A Wa Nibi, We Are Here', Lagos, Nigeria & Hamburg, Germany
2021 'a new memory', HOME IS AN EXTENSION OF YOU, Virtual
2021 'a new memory', RETROSPECT: Queerantine, Virtual
2020 'a new memory', Bakanal de Afrique, Virtual
2019 'we are more than bodies', Kioko Mwitiki Art Gallery, Nairobi, Kenya)
Interviews:
2021 On Filmmaking, Collaboration, and the Curse of Perfectionism
2021 ‘chasing’ challenges us to radically accept ourselves
2020 Reaching and Reflecting through Art
2019 The Artist Healing the Hidden Traumas of the African Diaspora