Samuel Nnorom
Samuel Nnorom (b. 1990, Abia, Nigeria) discovered his talent at the age of 9 while assisting his father at his shoe workshop. He started drawing customers who visited the shop while also being influenced by his mother’s tailoring workshop.
From 2001 to 2008, he received art training at Johnny Art Production Studio, Jos, Nigeria. In 2018, he graduated from the University of Nigeria with a Master of Fine Arts (Sculpture). He belongs to the New Nsukka School of Art. His body of work is typically constructed from pieces of Ankara/African wax print fabric scraps collected from tailors or cast-off clothing from homes, along with discarded foam from furniture workshops that are wrapped and stitched into bubbles of various colors and sizes.
Through actions like sewing, rolling, tying, stringing, and suspending, he poetically navigates the boundaries between textile, painting, and sculpture. Nnorom’s works has been recognized through various selected awards, including the equal winner of the Ettore e Ines Fico Prize at Artissima 2023 in Italy. He was a selected finalist for the Craft Council and Brookfield Properties Award in the UK in 2023, First Global Prize Winner of the M&C Saatchi and Saatchi Group Art for Change Award in 2022, and recipient of the first African Prize Cassirer Welz Award in South Africa in 2021
Gallery Exhibitions
Resume
EDUCATION
2017/18: M.F.A.(sculpture ), University in Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
2015: B.A.Ed.(sculpture major). University of Jos, Nigeria, Nigeria.
PRIZES/AWARD
2023: ex aequo the Ettore e Ines Fico Prize at the Artissima fair, Italy.
2023: 5 selected finalists for Craft Council and Brookfield Properties award UK.
2022/2023: Global Prize winner, Art for Change, Saatchi Gallery London UK.
2022/2023: shortlisted for Cultural & Artistic Responses To Environmental Change mentorship grant,
Prince Claus Fund
2022: Strauss & Co and Cassirer Welz Award, South Africa.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024: “Multitudes or Minorities?”, Saatchi Gallery and Tiwani Contemporary, London, UK.
2024: “A Material World: In the Beginning, ”Kateferri Project, New York, USA
2024: “What Tomorrow Holds”, THK Gallery, Capetown, South Africa.
2024: “Interwoven Narratives”, Galerie Revel, Paris, France
2023: “Emotional Catch”, Tiwani Contemporary, Lagos, Nigeria.
2023: “Truth and Conspiracy”, Primo Marella Gallery, Milano, Italy.
2023: “Points of Departure”, Galerie Art Mûr 5826, rue St-Hubert Montréal, (Québec) Canada.
2023: “Politics of Clothes”, The Mitochondria Gallery, Houston Texas, United State of America.
2023: “Politics of Fabrics”, an Expository solo exhibition, The Guest Artist Space, Yinka Shonibare
Foundation, Lagos.
2023: “Immigration and Integration”, The Art House, Wakefield United Kingdom.
2013: “Contemporary Renaissance”, FAA Departmental Gallery (October 9-11), Plateau, Nigeria
MUSEUM / INSTITUTIONAL SOLO
2024: Saatchi Gallery in collaboration with Tiwani Contemporary gallery at London
2024: Museum of Textile, Canada
MUSEUM GROUP SHOWS
2024: “interAction” biennale at Fondazione Made in Cloister, Napoli, Italy.
2023: International contemporary art exhibition “Paragone: What’s with mediums today?”, The
Water Museum – EPAL, at the Depósito da Patriarcal and at the Cape Verde Cultural Centre, Portugal.
ART FAIRS
2024: Primo Marella Gallery at AKAA Paris France
2024: Primo Marella Gallery at 1-54 Art Fair London
2024: Tiwani Contemporary gallery at Frieze London
2024: Kateferri Project, Solo presentation at Armory Art fair, New York
2024: Kateferri Project, at 1-54 Art Fair, New York
2024: Retro Africa at Tokyo Gendai 2024, Retro Africa
2024: THK Gallery at 1-54 New York 2024, THK Gallery
2024: Primo Marella Gallery at miart 2024, Primo Marella Gallery
2024: THK Gallery at Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2024, THK Gallery
2024: Primo Marella Gallery at Artefiera Bologna 2024, Primo Marella Gallery
2024: Tiwani Contemporary gallery at Frieze Los Angeles.
2024: Primo Marella Gallery at 1-54 Art Fair Hong Kong SAR, Hong Kong.
2024: THK Gallery at Capetown Art Fair, South Africa.
2024: Collect Art Fair 2024, Galerie Revel, London, UK.
2024: Primo Marella Gallery at 1-54 Marrakech, Morocco.
2024: This is Not White Cube Gallery at 1-54 Marrakech 2024, Morocco.
2024: Primo Marella Gallery at artgenève 2024, Switzerland.
2023: Primo Marella Gallery at Artissima 2023, Torino TO, Italy.
2023: Tiwani Contemporary at ART X Lagos, Nigeria.
2023: Art Mûr at Art Toronto 2023, Canada.
2023: Primo Marella Gallery at 1-54 London 2023, London.
2023: Bordeaux Art fair, Galerie Revel, Stand R+1 63, France.
2023: MIART, Primo Marella Gallery, Booth A13, Milano Italy.
2023: Collect Art Fair, Galerie Revel, London, UK.
2023: London Art Fair, Koop Project, Stand P15 Encounters Platform, London United Kingdom.
2022: ArtxLagos, Tiwani Contemporary, Booth 3, Nigeria.
2022: AKAA Art Fair, Galerie Chauvy booth A8, Paris France.
BIENNIAL SHOWS
2024: Black Rock Pavallion, Dakar Biennial, Senegal
2023: BISO International Biennial of Sculpture of Ouagadougou, Burkina-Faso.
ART RESIDENCIES
2024: Black Rock Senegal.
2023: BISO Ouagadougou, Burkina-Faso
2022/2023: Gas Artist Space (GAS) Yinka Shonibare Foundation Residency, Nigeria.
2022: ROSL and Art House Residency, London.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024: Echoes of Transformation, Mitochondria Gallery, Houston, TX
2023: Unusual Materials And Forms For A New Aesthetic, Primo Marella Gallery
2023: Beyond Boundaries, This Is Not A White Cube
2023: ‘At Once, Then Again: Selections from Practice’, Rele Gallery, Lagos Nigeria.
2023: Undiscovered, 5 artist show, Thought Pyramids, Lagos Nigeria.
2023: International Royal Oversea League Art exhibition, London, UK.
2023: Tiwani Contemporary, viewing room show, London.
** Editors Note. Samuel Nnorom. Mitochondria Gallery. 2025