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Marcia Kure

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Marcia Kure
Born1970
Kano State, Nigeria
NationalityNigerian
EducationUniversity of Nigeria, Nsukka, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME
WebsiteOfficial website

Marcia Kurepronunciationⓘ (b. 1970) is a Nigerian visual artist known primarily for her mixed media paintings and drawings which engage with postcolonial existentialist conditions and identities.[1][2]

Early life and education

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Kure was born in Kano State, Nigeria.[3] She trained at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka under Obiora Udechukwu, graduating in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts in painting.[4]

Professional career and work

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Kure's early work focused on political violence and the agency of women in patriarchal society.[5] Her later work is concerned with themes related to motherhood, haute couture fashion, hip-hop aesthetics, and her experience of expatriation.[6][7][8][9] Kure's style has been likened to contemporary uli, a graphic-intensive art tradition of Igbo women of eastern Nigeria that characterized by linear forms and minimal use of color. She often incorporates traditional African pigments, including kola nut and coffee.[9]

Images of veiled women commonly appear in Kure's work, beginning with Purdah in 1992.[10] She revisits images of veiled women and engages with textiles to explore the dynamic between gender and power.[10] Kure's work was featured in the Multichoice Africa's 2002 "African Artists of the Future" calendar.[11]

In a 2015 interview for ARTCTUALITE, Kure articulated the influence of space on her work, stating that she "[tries] to make an argument for people who do not have a defined space," and the ways in which she incorporates Western aesthetic techniques alongside those of African:

"I prefer the gray area that deals directly with oppositions and juxtapositions. I find the ability to inhabit different views very inspiring. I think the assimilation of western forms and techniques in my work allows me to integrate and interpret the world through a prismatic lens much better than one who has a singular view."[7]

Kure is represented by Susan Inglett Gallery (New York), Purdy Hicks Gallery (London) and Officine Dell'Immagine (Milan).[3][2][12] She currently lives and works in Princeton, New Jersey and Abuja and Kaduna, Nigeria.

Exhibitions and collections

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Kure had her New York debut in a group show at the Skoto Gallery in 1995.[13] Her solo exhibition Cloth as Identity in 2000 at the Goethe-Institut in Lagos featured a performance piece where women wearing burkas danced hip hop style to Afrobeat.[10] She has had two other solo exhibitions at the Purdy Hicks Gallery in London and Susan Inglett Gallery in New York.[14]

Kure's work has been featured in group exhibitions, at institutions such as the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, the New Museum in New York, Barbican Art Galleries in London, the National Gallery of Art in Lagos, and WIELS Contemporary Art Center in Brussels.[3]

Her work has also been exhibited at the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution, British Museum,Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in Atlanta, Newark Museum, Cleveland Clinic, North Carolina Museum of Art, Wanås Konst Sculpture Park, Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm[15], Centre Pompidou, Sindika Dokolo Foundation in Luanda, United States Embassy in Abuja,[3] and the Menil Drawing Institute in Houston.[16]

Kure has participated in international art events, including the 2005 Sharjah International Biennial[12], the 2006 International Biennial of Contemporary Art in Seville (curated by Okwui Enwezor), and La Triennial in 2013.

From January to March 2014, Kure was artist-in-residence at London's Victoria and Albert Museum.[6]

Prizes/awards/grants

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Kure has received several notable awards and grants throughout her career. In 1994, she was honored with the Uche Okeke Prize for drawing. Later, in 2004, she received the Elena Prentice Rulon-Miller Scholarship Fund and Minority Work Study Grant from the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Between 2007 and 2008, she was awarded a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship and a Program Puffin Grant for Burqua as Shelter sculpture in Charleston, South Carolina.

Teaching

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Kure has held teaching positions at various institutions. In 2004, she completed a teaching internship in St. Mark’s School, Southborough, Massachusetts.[17] More recently, in 2019, she taught at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, Sweden.[17]

References

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  1. ^ "Collections Online | British Museum". www.britishmuseum.org. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Marcia Kure Portfolio at Purdyhicks Gallery". www.purdyhicks.com. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d "Susan Inglett Gallery | Marcia Kure". www.inglettgallery.com. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  4. ^ Simon Ottenberg, New Traditions from Nigeria: Seven Artists of the Nsukka group, (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997) p. 153
  5. ^ See Ozioma Onuzulike, "Marcia Kure: Not Just a Cloth," Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art (Fall/Winter, 2001): p. 85.
  6. ^ a b Victoria and Albert Museum, Digital Media (14 November 2013). "Visual Artist in Residence: Marcia Kure". www.vam.ac.uk. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  7. ^ a b Sara. "Forged and Forced Unions: Interview with Marcia Kure | Art/ctualité" (PDF). Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  8. ^ Thorson, Alice (6 December 2013). "'Dressed Up' exhibit showcases the complexity of contemporary portraiture" (PDF). The Kansas City Star.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ^ a b "Marcia Kure - Biography". Purdy Hicks Gallery. Retrieved 21 March 2025.
  10. ^ a b c Adams, Sara (2003). "Marcia Kure". Journal of Contemporary African Art (18): 80–83.
  11. ^ Veney, Department of Political Science, Moderator: Professor Cassandra; Sherry Simpson-Dean, executive director; Kure, Marcia; Nkiru Nzegwu, Chair of Africana Studies (29 October 2010). "Lifting Oppression as We Climb: Black Women Artists and Activism - VIDEO". Bellarmine Forum.
  12. ^ a b "Marcia Kure". www.officinedellimmagine.com. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  13. ^ Cotter, Holland (13 June 2013). "Marcia Kure: 'Tease'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  14. ^ "Hope Gangloff" (PDF). Richard Heller Gallery. Retrieved 25 July 2018. [verification needed]
  15. ^ "Marcia Kure: Under Skin - Royal Institute of Art Stockholm". Artlyst. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  16. ^ "Wall Drawing Series Marcia Kure". The Menil Collection. Retrieved 21 March 2025.
  17. ^ a b "Pushing Boundaries: New Forms of Sculpture with Marcia Kure - Guest professor at KKH in February 2019". kkh.se. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
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