This talk will present the unique materials, structural processes, and poetic forms Adejoke Tugbiyele uses to establish her distinct visual language, and the theoretical frameworks that guide her multidisciplinary practice. Through personal storytelling, Tugbiyele unfolds a rich journey of her background, offering insights into her identity as a queer, black, woman and child of Nigerian immigrants. She will present a combination of drawings, mixed media, sculptural and video work that also suggest how her practice expands on existing discourse around race, gender, sexuality and immigration, while standing firmly in critique of human rights injustices. Tugbiyele will conclude the talk with ideas about new works in-progress which inspire the title of this series.

Adejoke Tugbiyele is an award-winning, queer, black, artist and human rights activist. She is a recipient of the 2016 Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Grant. In 2015, Foreign Policy described her as one of 100 Leading Global Thinkers for her sculptural work addressing the criminalization of LGBTQ individuals in Nigeria. In 2014, Tugbiyele was in Lagos, Nigeria on a U.S. Fulbright Student award, where she researched the intersections of art, spirituality and sexuality within the queer community. Her work resulted in a short video, which was captured alongside her interview on CNN International with correspondent, Vladimir Duthiers. It also resulted in a large fabric work entitled Gele Pride Flag, which she recently donated to the permanent collection of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum – ‘In Honor of Our LGBTQ Heroes in Orlando, 2016.’ While a graduate student at Maryland Institute College of Art, Tugbiyele was awarded the Amalie Rothschild ’34 Rinehart Award in 2012 and the William M. Phillips ’54 Scholarship for Best Figurative Sculpture in 2013.

Outside the United States, Tugbiyele’s multimedia work has been featured in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Nigeria, Poland, Spain, France and the Netherlands. Her work can be found in the public collections of the Brooklyn Museum, The Newark Museum, the corporate collection of Credit Suisse Bank, and in significant private collections within the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Hong Kong. Tugbiyele’s work has been referenced or reviewed in leading publications around the world, and she has sat as a distinguished panelist for programs within reputable institutions in the United States and beyond. In 2002, she received a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and in 2013, graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Maryland Institute College of Art.

Kosher pizza will be served. 

Brown Bag Lunch Series