Sharon Lorenzo reviews a new installation at the Museum of Modern Art.

Woven wool tapestry, 11.ft 5 in. by 19 ft. 8 in. Donald and Catherine Marron Atrium, MOMA, NYC.

Otobong Nkanga, born in 1974, Kano, Nigeria.

The Museum of Modern Art has commissioned a living artist from Nigeria to install a massive sculptural installation for nine months in its largest gallery. Otobong Nkanga was born in Kano, Nigeria and educated there at the Ile Ife Awolowo University before also completing a Masters in Performing Arts in Amsterdam. In this enormous work she combines a woven base with elements of rope, glass, ceramics, and clay which she assembled in a digital weaving studio in Tilburg of the Netherlands. She explains her motivation as such:

“Humans are only a small minute part of the ecosystem. My works connect us to our shared histories not just through land and geography but through emotions shaped by events and encounters. These are the cadence of life.”

She has called many of the constellations in this work images of the intersections of nature, politics, economies, and history. She holds workshops for students through her Flow Foundation in Nigeria. She has received many awards and prizes for her monumental works and will address MOMA visitors numerous times during this installation. Here is a photo of her monitoring the creation of this work.

Otobong at the loom.

Detail of the weaving.

In all my years in the field of art, I have never seen such an enormous work of art like this. The colors are dazzling and the massive nature of the work in the Marron Atrium is definitely worth a visit. It shows how MOMA is not only a collecting institution, but an active participant in the field of contemporary art around the world.