Samuel Nnorom (b. 1990) hails from Abia, Nigeria. His body of work is typically constructed from pieces of Ankara/African wax print fabric scraps collected from tailors, or cast-off clothes from homes, wrapped and stitched into bubbles of various colours and sizes.
Samuel Nnorom (b. 1990) hails from Abia, Nigeria. He discovered his talent at the age of 9 while assisting his father at his shoe workshop. He started making life drawings of customers who visited the shop while also being influenced by his mother's tailoring workshop. His body of work is typically constructed from pieces of Ankara/African wax print fabric scraps collected from tailors, or cast-off clothes from homes, along with waste foam from furniture workshops that is wrapped and stitched into bubbles of various colours and sizes. Through actions like sewing, rolling, tying, stringing, and suspending, he poetically navigates the boundaries between textiles, painting, and sculpture. However, he belongs to the New Nsukka School of Art. Samuel Nnorom works has been recognised through various selected awards, including Ex aequo the Ettore e Ines Fico Prize at the Artissima fair Italy 2023, selected finalist for Craft Council and Brookfield Properties award UK 2023, first global prize winner of the M&C Saatchi and Saatchi Group Art for Change Award 2022, first African Prize Cassirer Welz Award South Africa 2021. Solo exhibition: “Interwoven Narratives” Galerie Revel Paris France 2024, “Emotional Catch” Tiwani Contemporary Lagos Nigeria 2023, “Truth and Conspiracy”, Primo Marella Gallery, Milano, Italy 2023, “Points of Departures” Galerie Art Mur Montreal Canada 2023, “Politics of Clothes”, Mitochondria Gallery Houston Texas USA 2023, “Politics of Fabrics” an Expository solo exhibition at The Guest Artist Space Yinka Shonibare Foundation Lagos Nigeria 2023, “Immigration and Integration”, The Art House Wakefifield UK. Residencies such as: Black Rock Senegal 2023, BISO International Biennial of Sculpture of Ouagadougou Burkina-Faso 2023, Gas Artist Space (GAS) Yinka Shonibare Foundation Residency Nigeria 2022, ROSL and Art House Residency UK 2022, Cassirer Welz Award and Bag Factory Residency, South Africa 2021. His works are found in important private collections, museums, and institutions.
Artist Statement
My body of work is made from pieces of Ankara fabric/ African wax print fabrics collected from either tailors’ debris or cast-off clothes from homes, and waste foams from furniture workshops, wrapped and stitched into bubbles of various colours and sizes through sewing, rolling, tying, stringing, suspending and cutting, which navigates boundaries between textiles, painting and sculpture in a poetic rendition. I am interested in the identity and meaning that fabrics represent, especially the African print fabric, which is mostly consumed in my local community and West Africa. Fabric suggests to me a social structure or social organisation that weaves humanity into society, in the case of the ‘fabric of society’ or 'social fabric’. However, it is peculiar to different societies, while ‘bubble’ suggests a structure that holds or stores something for a period. This material and form make me think of the human, environment, and their daily struggles to survive through studio actions like cutting, rolling, stitching, and installation of their bubbles, which serve as a metaphor to engage viewers in self-interrogation, critical thinking, and questioning of sociopolitical structures or standards that dialogue between “Truth and Conspiracy” and the daily façade worn by individuals to escape and survive the human condition of bubbles.
More
ISC Professional Member
Professional Member
Print Page
Photo Gallery
