REWA was born and raised between Nigeria and England and received a BSc. in Physiology and Pharmacology from University College London (UCL). Never having received formal art training, she is self-taught and revels in the celebration of the female form using vivid colors. Her preferred medium of acrylic on canvas provides the immediacy to express her influences living between Lagos, London and Johannesburg, cities she considers home.

REWA’s primary body of work, The Pantheon, celebrating Nigerian deities, led to her appointment as ReLe Gallery’s 2017 Young Contemporary in Lagos, Nigeria. She went on to exhibit her collection, Onicha Ado N’Idu, which delved into the significance of naming rites and traditions within the Igbo culture in Nigeria, at the Gallery of African Art (GAFRA) in London.

REWA’s work formed part of the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA) annual 2017 gala in New York. In 2018, she showed her series, INU NWUNYE: Bride Price, as part of a group show at the Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans, USA.

REWA’s first solo show in 2019 at the Jonathan Ferrara Gallery showcased her NWA AGBO: Entering Adolescence series. She was part of the acclaimed exhibition, “Back to the Future: Still Here Tomorrow to High Five You Yesterday” at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, South Africa – the largest museum of contemporary African art in the world. She also featured in the Contemporary Art Centre of New Orleans (CACNO) 2019 annual exhibition, Identity Measures, in New Orleans, Louisiana. In addition, REWA was one of the selected artists to participate in Nike’s Women’s World Cup 2019 Campaign, titled, “Don’t Change Your Dream. Change The World”.

REWA’s work has since been shown at the National Museum of Nigeria and as part of the annual Art Dubai 2020 fair.

STATEMENT

Viewers largely label me under “Contemporary African Art”. I label my work as Igbo Vernacular Art. The reason for this is that I believe that I have created a truly original body of work that exists outside formal academic or Western dialogue. My art is drawn from life itself and deeply anchored in a place and culture from which it was derived. This is the Igbo culture pertaining to the Igbos of Nigeria.

I think that this description is more accurate, as it implies a unique iteration of customs and tradition, bound to a particular location and a particular people.

Igbo Vernacular Art is not to be mistaken with Folk Art, but rather, concerns itself with an expressive aesthetic that would be more commonly associated with Contemporary Modern Art: form, composition and narrative. Vernacular dialects are anchored to a particular land, and in much the same way, my art contains a vocabulary that is built on a strong sense of place and is situated in a location and a history.

It is my hope that one day, my work will be included in art historical dialogue about Africa and specifically Nigeria, beyond the confines of the wide-reaching Contemporary African Art designation.

www.artbyrewa.com