Arnolfini:
Our third International Artist Award recipient is Nigerian Artist Nengi Omuku, whose exhibition The Dance of People and the Natural World (originated at Hastings Contemporary), is one of our two summer shows at Arnolfini in 2024.
Nengi spent a week installing the exhibition with the team in Bristol, contributing to the interpretation of the exhibition sharing her own stories about individual works to create new audio content, as well as delivering a tour for our visitor services team helping them to interpret the show for visitors, and taking part in our opening celebrations with an artist lunch and memorable evening event with audiences from across the city.
Building upon Nengi’s own commitment to mental health and wellbeing – having founded her own charity in Lagos The Art of Healing, inspired by a previous commission from London-based charity Hospital Rooms – she worked with one of our long-term community partners creativeShift to deliver a creative wellbeing workshop. The session created an opportunity for participants experiencing social isolation and mental or physical health challenges to respond to Nengi’s work and to learn more about her practice through conversation and creative activities.
