Eva Obodo

EVA OBODO WAS BORN IN NIGERIA IN 1963. HE IS A VISUAL ARTIST WHO WORKS IN PAINTING, SCULPTURE AND MIXED MEDIA PRACTISES. HE LIVES AND WORKS IN NSUKKA, NIGERIA. 

 

He focuses on fibre and charcoal as conceptual mediums, creating relief paintings and free standing sculptures that are created from processes of wrapping, tying and bundling. Incorporating discarded materials such as charcoal and jute fibre, Obodo creates visual narratives that evoke the complex socio-political and economic structures that frame contemporary culture.

Obodo’s charcoal works reference issues of natural resources and development in Nigeria, while his fibre works utilise nylon threads that are tied, rolled and wrapped to create colorful visual metaphors. Together, they speak to the connections between individuals and their social relations woven against economic and political backgrounds, connected by community, nation and the global economy through the trade of goods and ideas.

 

Eva Obodo holds an MFA and a PhD from the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and presently teaches sculpture and art education at the same university. He was formerly a lecturer at Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, where he taught art history, sculpture and drawing for several years before joining the University of Nigeria.

 

Eva Obodo held a solo exhibition with kó Art-space in Lagos (Eva Obodo: Recent Works, The New Nsukka Series) in 2021, as well as Arthouse-The Space in Lagos, including Ngwugwu (Packages) in 2019 and Line.by.Line in 2015. He has also participated in several international group exhibitions in addition to his solo shows, including the Osaka Trienniale (Japan) and DAK’ART (Senegal). In 2013, Obodo was the recipient of the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship Award.