Wura-Natasha Ogunji (b.1970) is a visual artist and performer. Her works include drawings hand-stitched into tracing paper, paintings, videos and public performances. Her work is deeply inspired by the daily interactions and frequencies that occur in the city of Lagos, Nigeria, from the epic to the intimate. Ogunji's performances explore the presence of women in public space; these often include investigations of labor, leisure, freedom and frivolity.
Recent exhibitions include A World in Common: Contemporary African Photography at Tate Modern 2024; rīvus, 23rd Biennale of Sydney, 2022; Diaspora at Home, Kadist Foundation, Paris, 2021; and The Power of My Hands: Afrique(s) artistes femmes, Museum of Modern Art, Paris, 2021. Ogunji was an Artist-Curator for the 33rd São Paulo Bienal where her large-scale performance Days of Being Free premiered. She has also exhibited at: The Lagos Biennial; Kochi-Muziris Biennale; 1:54, Paris, London & New York; Seattle Art Museum; Brooklyn Art Museum; and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark. Ogunji is a recipient of the Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship and has received grants from The Pollock-Krasner Foundation; The Dallas Museum of Art; and the Idea Fund. She has a BA from Stanford University [1992, Anthropology] and an MFA from San Jose State University [1998, Photography]. She resides in Lagos where she is founder of the experimental art space The Treehouse.
