# Marcia Kure

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{{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         =
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| birth_date    = 1970
| birth_place   = [Kano State](/source/Kano_State), [Nigeria](/source/Nigeria)
| death_date    = 
| death_place   = 
| field         = 
| training      = [University of Nigeria, Nsukka](/source/University_of_Nigeria%2C_Nsukka), Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME
| movement      = 
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| elected       = 
| website       = {{official website|http://marciakure.com/}}
}}

'''Marcia Kure''' {{Pronunciation|Ha-Marcia Kure.ogg|help=no}} (born 1970) is a [Nigerian](/source/Nigerians) visual artist known for her [mixed media](/source/mixed_media) paintings and drawings that explore themes of identity, history, and the lasting effects of [colonialism](/source/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](/source/University_of_Nigeria%2C_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](/source/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](/source/University_of_Nigeria%2C_Nsukka) under [Obiora Udechukwu](/source/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](/source/political_violence) and the agency of women in [patriarchal](/source/Patriarchy) 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](/source/haute_couture) (exclusive, custom-made) fashion, [hip-hop](/source/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](/source/Uli_(design)), a graphic-intensive art tradition of [Igbo](/source/Igbo_people) 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](/source/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](/source/New_York_(state))), ''Purdy Hicks Gallery'' ([London](/source/London)) and ''Officine Dell'Immagine'' ([Milan](/source/Milan)).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":1" /> She currently lives and works in [Princeton, New Jersey](/source/Princeton%2C_New_Jersey) and [Abuja and Kaduna, Nigeria](/source/Kaduna).

===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](/source/Goethe-Institut) in Lagos featured a performance in which women wearing [burkas](/source/Burqa) performed hip hop–style dance to [Afrobeat](/source/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](/source/User%3AGreenC_bot%2FJob_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](/source/Sharjah_Biennale),<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](/source/Seville) (curated by [Okwui Enwezor](/source/Okwui_Enwezor)), and ''[La Triennial](/source/Triennale_di_Milano)'' in 2013.<ref name=":7" /> Her work has been included in group exhibitions at institutions such as the [New Museum](/source/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](/source/National_Museum_of_African_Art) at the [Smithsonian Institution](/source/Smithsonian_Institution), [British Museum](/source/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](/source/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](/source/artist-in-residence) at the [Victoria and Albert Museum](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Smithsonian_Institution) and a Program Puffin Grant for the ''Burqua as Shelter'' sculpture from [The Puffin Foundation](/source/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](/source/St._Mark's_School_(Massachusetts)), [Southborough, Massachusetts](/source/Southborough%2C_Massachusetts).<ref name=":6" /> In 2019, she taught at the [Royal Institute of Art](/source/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 ==
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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

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Marcia Kure](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcia_Kure) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcia_Kure?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.