Otobong Nkanga
To Dig a Hole that Collapses Again

By curator Omar Kholeif, with texts by Teju Cole
Prestel/Delmonico/Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 2018

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Description

This publication celebrates the Antwerp-based, Nigerian-born artist Otobong Nkanga, who explores cultural and historical conflicts as well as the exploitation of the Earth's natural resources.

In capturing the fraught relationships between people and their environments, Otobong Nkanga illuminates the social, political, and economic histories--and legacies--of colonialism. This beautifully illustrated book, which focuses on the artist's drawings, is published in conjunction with Nkanga's first US survey and showcases the artist's compelling and thought-provoking oeuvre. An essay by exhibition curator Omar Kholeif reveals the rich background of Nkanga's varied subjects, including the historic realities of Nigeria, memories of her childhood, and the creation of covert global economies that emerge from the trade of natural resources. In a narrative piece, the acclaimed author, photographer, and critic Teju Cole offers a poignant counterpart to Nkanga's work as he reflects on his experiences growing up in Nigeria. Interspersed throughout the monograph are newly written poems by the artist.

Copublished by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and DelMonico Books

About the Author

Omar Kholeif is a writer, curator, editor, and broadcaster. Over the last decade he has curated and/or commissioned more than 100 exhibitions and artists' works, and authored or edited more than twenty books and catalogues on global modern and contemporary art. He is the former Manilow Senior Curator and Director of Global Initiatives at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and Curator at the Whitechapel Gallery, London.

Reviews

"The art book accompanying the exhibition, designed by James Goggin and edited by curator Omar Kholeif, amounts to a second exhibition in print: a compendium of Nkanga’s drawings and poetry, with a reflective essay by Teju Cole, it comprises what Joseph Grigely calls an “exhibition prosthetic” that extends the show’s reach into private space." -Bomb Magazine