Artist Profile Archive’s latest documentary short features Njideka Akunyili Crosby, an acclaimed Nigerian-born, Los Angeles-based artist. In this video, the artist speaks from his LA studio, reflecting on his career as an artist, the creative process, and the 2023 exhibitions “The Hilton Als Series: Njideka Akunyili Crosby” and “Njideka Akunyili Crosby: Coming Back to See Through, Again.” ” by David Zwirner in Los Angeles and New York.
Born in Nigeria in 1983, Akunyili Crosby immigrated to the United States at the age of 16. He attended Swarthmore College, where he majored in biology and took many art classes. “Art was much more than I thought,” he explains in the documentary. “It was something you could use to talk about your life, your dreams, your past, your future, the state of the world, politics, society. That was a change for me, to see how much influence art has had, is, can be.’ In 2011 she received her MFA from the Yale School of Art, and has since been critically acclaimed for her dynamic mixed media works.
Through painting, drawing, photo transfers and collage, Akunyili Crosby has developed a unique visual language based on her Nigerian heritage and experiences living in the US. Watch the new documentary to learn more.
About the artist profile archive
The Artist Profile Archive is an ever-expanding archive of short documentaries about contemporary artists, interviewed in their studios, discussing their educational background, sources of inspiration, current exhibitions and artistic processes. The Artist Profile Archive website contains multimedia content including biographies, exhibition photographs, audio clips and behind-the-scenes footage, providing a historical record of the most important contemporary artists working today.
