Ufuoma Essi

Working predominantly with film and moving image as well as photography and sound, Essi's work revolves around Black feminist epistemology and the configuration of displaced histories. The archive forms an essential medium for her as an artist and it’s through explorations with the archive that she aims to interrogate and disrupt the silences and gaps of political and historical narratives.

Essi took part in the artist development programme Syllabus VI – Spike Island, Wysing Arts Centre, Iniva, Studio Voltaire and Eastside Projects (2020–21). Recent solo exhibitions include All That You Can’t Leave Behind, Public Gallery, London (2022), and From Where We Land, South London Gallery (2021). Recent group exhibitions include Ata koia!, TeTuhi, Auckland, (2022); An Infinity of Traces, Lisson Gallery, London (2021); Not Without Joy, Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague (2021). Selected screenings include 17th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, Berwick Upon-Tweed (2021); Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival (2021–20); Prismatic Ground Film Festival, New York (2021); BLK Docs x Maysles Documentary Center: Instant Ancenstry, New York (2020), among others. Upcoming solo exhibitions include Is My Living in Vain at Gasworks in London (2022) and at Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery, Auckland (2023).

Essi was a recipient of the Jerwood Somerset House Studios Residency, supported by the Jerwood Developing Artists Fund.