Mary Nangah

Mary Nangah’s bold and imaginative work in oil explores the enigmatic duplicity of the female body and its crowning, most contentious, adornment. Whether rendered in swooping gestures of luscious, edible pigment, stealthy digital enhancements or real fringe adhered right to canvas, hair – a human feature imbued with manifold emotional, psychological and cultural implications - functions simultaneously as subject and precious talisman within Nangah’s trajectory of form. While her use of digital imaging foregrounds the shifting nature of identity in the age of technology, her paintings retain a lush and gestural quality which suggests sublime union, and the thrill of escapism.

Originally from Cameroon, West Africa, her work is informed by her transcultural background and reflects the intersection of global nationality, culture and life experiences in the spirit of the contemporary African diasporic tradition. Mary Nangah immigrated to the United States at the age of twelve and received her BFA from the University of Texas at Dallas and her MFA at Parsons, The New School. She currently lives and works in New York City.