{{Short description|Nigerian artist}} {{Multiple issues| {{BLP sources|date=July 2018}} {{Resume-like|date=July 2018}} }} {{Use British English|date=September 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox artist | name = Marcia Kure | image = | imagesize = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = 1970 | birth_place = Kano State, Nigeria | death_date = | death_place = | field = | training = University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME | movement = | works = | patrons = | influenced by = | influenced = | awards = | elected = | website = {{official website|http://marciakure.com/}} }}
'''Marcia Kure''' {{Pronunciation|Ha-Marcia Kure.ogg|help=no}} (born 1970) is a Nigerian visual artist known for her mixed media paintings and drawings that explore themes of identity, history, and the lasting effects of colonialism.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Collections Online {{!}} British Museum |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG219861 |access-date=2021-01-30 |website=www.britishmuseum.org}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Marcia Kure Portfolio at Purdyhicks Gallery |url=https://www.purdyhicks.com/artists/37-marcia-kure/works/ |access-date=2019-07-09 |website=www.purdyhicks.com}}</ref> Trained at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, her work often incorporates imagery of veiled women and references to fashion and textiles, and frequently addresses gender and political themes.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":11" /> Her work has been exhibited internationally in museums and galleries across Africa, Europe, and the United States.<ref name=":9" />
== Early life and education == Kure was born in Kano State, Nigeria.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Susan Inglett Gallery {{!}} Marcia Kure |url=https://www.inglettgallery.com/artists/123-marcia-kure/overview/ |access-date=2019-07-09 |website=www.inglettgallery.com}}</ref> She trained at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka under Obiora Udechukwu, graduating in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts in painting.<ref name=":9">Simon Ottenberg, ''New Traditions from Nigeria: Seven Artists of the Nsukka group,'' (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997) p. 153</ref>
== Professional career and work == Kure's early work focused on political violence and the agency of women in patriarchal society.<ref name=":11">See Ozioma Onuzulike, "Marcia Kure: Not Just a Cloth," ''Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art'' (Fall/Winter, 2001): p. 85.</ref> An example of this period is her series ''History of Africa by Fela'' (2001-2003), which consists of 59 panels executed in ink, kolanut pigment, and pencil on paper.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Adams |first=Sarah |date=2004 |title=Review of Black President: The Art and Legacy of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti; This Is Lagos: Yabis Night, Music and Fela |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3338016 |journal=African Arts |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=83–95 |issn=0001-9933}}</ref> Her later work is concerned with themes related to motherhood, haute couture (exclusive, custom-made) fashion, hip-hop aesthetics, and her experience of expatriation.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last=Victoria and Albert Museum |first=Digital Media |date=2013-11-14 |title=Visual Artist in Residence: Marcia Kure |url=https://www.vam.ac.uk/blog/museum-life/residency-retrospective-marcia-kure |access-date=2021-01-30 |website=www.vam.ac.uk |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Thorson |first=Alice |date=6 December 2013 |title='Dressed Up' exhibit showcases the complexity of contemporary portraiture |url=https://inglettgallery.viewingrooms.com/usr/documents/press/download_url/345/2013-12_kure_kansas-city-star.pdf |work=The Kansas City Star |pages=}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Marcia Kure - Biography |url=https://www.purdyhicks.com/artists/37-marcia-kure/biography/ |url-status= |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=Purdy Hicks Gallery |language=en}}</ref> The Purdy Hicks Gallery describes Kure's style as having strong links to contemporary uli, a graphic-intensive art tradition of Igbo women of eastern Nigeria that is characterized by linear forms and minimal use of color.<ref name=":4" /> Her drawings are also described as combining sweeping and swirling strokes with bold shapes and symbolic decorative motifs drawn from diverse African visual traditions.<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal |last=Prager |first=Roger H. |date=1998 |title=Review of Cross/ing: Time • Space • Movement |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3337524 |journal=African Arts |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=80–81 |doi=10.2307/3337524 |issn=0001-9933|url-access=subscription }}</ref> She often incorporates traditional African pigments, including kola nut and coffee.<ref name=":4" />
Images of veiled women have been a recurring motif in Kure’s work since ''Purdah'' (1992).<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Adams |first=Sara |date=2003 |title=Marcia Kure |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/422708 |journal=Journal of Contemporary African Art |volume=2003 |issue=18 |pages=80–83 |doi=10.1215/10757163-18-1-80 }}</ref> She revisits this imagery often, incorporating textiles to examine relationships between gender and power.<ref name=":5" /> Her work explores gender roles and boundaries, as seen in ''Woman as Warrior'' (1997), which shows a female figure with attributes associated with male authority, as well as in works about motherhood.<ref name=":10" /> In 2002, her work was included in Multichoice Africa’s African Artists of the Future calendar.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Veney, Department of Political Science |first1=Moderator: Professor Cassandra |last2=Sherry Simpson-Dean |first2=executive director |last3=Kure |first3=Marcia |last4=Nkiru Nzegwu |first4=Chair of Africana Studies |date=2010-10-29 |title=Lifting Oppression as We Climb: Black Women Artists and Activism - VIDEO |url=https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/bellarmineforum/2010/schedule/7/ |journal=Bellarmine Forum}}</ref>
In a 2015 interview for ''ARTCTUALITE'', Kure described her interest in working between opposing ideas and perspectives, stating: "I prefer the gray area that deals directly with oppositions and juxtapositions. [...] I think the assimilation of western forms and techniques in my work allows me to integrate and interpret the world through a prismatic lens much better than one who has a singular view."<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Sara |title=Forged and Forced Unions: Interview with Marcia Kure {{!}} Art/ctualité |url=https://www.inglettgallery.com/usr/documents/press/download_url/361/2015-03-kure_artctualite.pdf |access-date=2019-07-09 |language=en-US}}</ref>
Kure is represented by ''Susan Inglett Gallery'' (New York), ''Purdy Hicks Gallery'' (London) and ''Officine Dell'Immagine'' (Milan).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1" /> She currently lives and works in Princeton, New Jersey and Abuja and Kaduna, Nigeria.
===Exhibitions and collections=== Kure has had eight solo exhibitions and has participated in over forty group exhibitions internationally.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2006 |title=Back Matter |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40338711 |journal=Meridians |volume=6 |issue=2 |issn=1536-6936}}</ref> She first exhibited her work in a New York group show at the Skoto Gallery in 1995.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cotter |first=Holland |date=2013-06-13 |title=Marcia Kure: 'Tease' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/14/arts/design/marcia-kure-tease.html |access-date=2022-04-15 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> She has also been in the 1997 exhibition ''Cross/ing: Time • Space • Movement'', curated by Olu Oguibe, which showcased contemporary African artists working internationally.<ref name=":10" /> Her solo exhibition ''Cloth as Identity'' (2000) at the Goethe-Institut in Lagos featured a performance in which women wearing burkas performed hip hop–style dance to Afrobeat music.<ref name=":5" /> She has also had solo exhibitions at Purdy Hicks Gallery in London and Susan Inglett Gallery in New York.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hope Gangloff |url=https://www.inglettgallery.com/usr/library/documents/main/artists/95/gangloff_bio.pdf |access-date=2018-07-25 |website=Richard Heller Gallery}} {{verify source|date=September 2019|reason=This ref was deleted Special:Diff/905536117 by a bug in VisualEditor and later restored by a bot from the original cite located at Special:Permalink/893029670 cite #7 - verify the cite is accurate and delete this template. User:GreenC bot/Job 18}}</ref>
Kure's work has been exhibited internationally across Southwest Asia, Europe, North America, and Africa. She has participated in international art events including the 2005 Sharjah International Biennial,<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Marcia Kure |url=https://universes.art/en/sharjah-biennial/2005/sharjah-art-museum-2/marcia-kure |access-date=2019-07-09 |website=www.officinedellimmagine.com}}</ref> the 2006 International Biennial of Contemporary Art in Seville (curated by Okwui Enwezor), and ''La Triennial'' in 2013.<ref name=":7" /> Her work has been included in group exhibitions at institutions such as the New Museum in New York and Barbican Art Galleries in London.<ref name=":0" /> Kure’s work has also been shown at the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution, British Museum, <ref>{{Cite web |title=Marcia Kure: Under Skin - Royal Institute of Art Stockholm |url=https://artlyst.com/previews/marcia-kure-skin-royal-institute-art-stockholm/ |access-date=2025-03-22 |website=Artlyst |language=en-GB}}</ref> Centre Pompidou,<ref name=":0" /> and the Menil Drawing Institute in Houston.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wall Drawing Series Marcia Kure |url=https://www.menil.org/exhibitions/358-wall-drawing-series-marcia-kure |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=The Menil Collection |language=en}}</ref>
From January to March 2014, Kure was artist-in-residence at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.<ref name=":7" />
===Prizes/awards/grants=== Kure has received several notable awards and grants throughout her career, such as the Uche Okeke Prize for Drawing in 1994.<ref name=":0" /> She was awarded the Elena Prentice Rulon-Miller Scholarship Fund and the Minority Work Study Grant at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in 2004.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |title=Marcia Kure |url=https://ko-artspace.com/artists/105-marcia-kure/ |access-date=2026-04-05 |website=kó |language=en}}</ref> Later, she received the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship from the Smithsonian Institution and a Program Puffin Grant for the ''Burqua as Shelter'' sculpture from The Puffin Foundation (2007–2008).<ref name=":8" />
===Teaching=== Kure has held teaching positions at various institutions. In 2004, she completed a teaching internship in St. Mark’s School, Southborough, Massachusetts.<ref name=":6" /> In 2019, she taught at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, Sweden.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=Pushing Boundaries: New Forms of Sculpture with Marcia Kure - Guest professor at KKH in February 2019 |url=https://www.artrabbit.com/events/under-skin |access-date=2019-03-08 |website=kkh.se}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kure, Marcia}} Category:Living people Category:University of Nigeria alumni Category:1970 births Category:21st-century Nigerian painters Category:21st-century Nigerian women painters Category:People from Kano Category:Nigerian expatriates in the United States Category:American artists of Nigerian descent