Joanna Mbeke

Joanna Mbeke’s work is intimately tied to the beautiful, visionary aesthetic of African and Central American cultures. Her color-filled images tenderly express the spirit and vitality of what she calls Africando art, exploring the lasting affect that traditional heritages have on the modern world.

Born in Nigeria, Mbeke came of age in the UK and the tension between her West African identity and her Westernized identity shapes her work. Her paintings, often fragmented portraits with a Cubist sensibility, embody constant identity searching. Yet the identity search is by no means dismal. The vibrant colors, geometric shapes, and tenderly expressive portraits that fill Mbeke’s paintings render the search for self a culturally rich, dynamic process. Mbeke aims to alert people to the identity-related challenges that the children of immigrants face. Yet she also prolifically conveys the animated spirituality of folk and traditional art forms. A self taught artist who has traveled extensively, Joanna Mbeke lives and works in London.