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Nengi Omuku, Untitled, 2022. Oil on sanyan 92 x 62 cm, 36 ¼ x 24 ⅜ in (PH10916) Courtesy the artist. ©Nengi Omuku. Photography by Todd-White Art Photography.
Exhibition
Nengi Omuku: The Dance of People and the Natural World
29 Jun 2024 – 29 Sep 2024
Regular hours
- Saturday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Sunday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Tuesday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Wednesday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Thursday
- 11:00 – 18:00
- Friday
- 11:00 – 18:00
Address
- 16 Narrow Quay
- Bristol, BS1 4QA
- Bristol
England - BS1 4QA
- United Kingdom
Travel Information
- Most city centre bus services stop within walking distance of Arnolfini. The nearest stops are at The Centre and Queen Square.
- Arnolfini is a 15 minute walk from Bristol Temple Meads railway station. A taxi rank can be found outside the station.
This Summer, journey into the lush landscapes of Nigerian artist Nengi Omuku‘s exhibition The Dance of People and the Natural World at Arnolfini.
About
Omuku’s human figures blend seamlessly with nature, exploring the relationship between individual and collective thought, belonging, and psychological spaces that transcend traditional Western landscape painting.
Featuring the monumental work Eden and new additions such as Quorum and Rumours of War, The Dance of People and the Natural World brings together pieces first shown at Hastings Contemporary in 2023.
Omuku’s rich, dreamlike color palette is heavily influenced by the muted tones of Sanyan, a pre-colonial Nigerian textile woven from moth silk and cotton, blending Western oil painting traditions with Nigeria’s textile craftsmanship.
Hung away from the gallery wall or suspended from ceilings, Omuku invites the audience to see both sides of each cloth, revealing symbolic artistry and patterns like prayers of fertility woven within. Her paradisical landscapes and gardens draw inspiration from real places like Monet’s Garden in Giverny and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Ibadan, as well as memories of her mother’s garden and imagined realms where flora and fauna take on fantastical forms.
Whether real or imagined, Omuku’s works offer landscapes to long for and find solace in, as she looks back at happier times and explores the slow passage of time, a continual theme since her solo exhibition Parables of Joy in 2022.
Nengi Omuku: The Dance of People and the Natural World originated at Hastings Contemporary in 2023-2024. It is one of two summer shows at Arnolfini alongside Adébayo Bolaji In Praise of Beauty.
