Ife Nii Owoo

The relevance and shaping presence of history in our lives and the power of myth and symbol—have long been essential themes for Ife, from her early days as an expatriate artist living and working in Ghana, West Africa, through her political and creative practice. In her mixed media works, she explores African American history and family traditions, incorporating meaningful artifacts, images, and symbols. She is drawn to communicating across barriers: visually and practically. She uses collage and mixed media, Adinkra, and various
African writing symbols and the use of repeated patterning of cloth among her materials. Her work has been exhibited at the African American Museum in Philadelphia, African American Museum of Art and Culture, New Orleans, LA, the Art + Peace Museum in Philadelphia, Moore College of Art Gallery, and Community Folk Art Center, Syracuse, New York.

She studied African Visual Arts at the Institute of African Studies in Accra, Ghana, and lived in London, England, and Africa for nine years. She holds a BFA from Syracuse University and a Post Graduate Certificate in Design from the London School of Communications (England). In 1978 she was a Candidate for a Masters of African Visual Arts at the Institute of African Studies in Accra, Ghana. Born and raised in Philadelphia, to which she returned in 1981, she has been part of a ground-breaking generation of African American women artists and designers pushing through barriers, part of and influenced by Philly’s Black Arts and Black Power movements.

Selected work in Museum juried show “77th Annual Woodmere Museum Show (2018) Woodmere Museum, Philadelphia, PA and “Making Space” Group Show, Leeway and Moore College of Art, Gallery Show (2018) Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia, PA.