Kelechi Charles Nwaneri

Artist in Residence 2020
AKKA Project is pleased to announce that the artist Kelechi Charles Nwaneri has been selected for the second edition of AKKA Project | Venice Artist Residency, from October 18th to December 21st, 2020. Kelechi is a young, self-taught Nigerian artist and is considered a great promise in the contemporary art scene. 
 
Kelechi’s work mixes different artistic currents, such as photorealism, surrealism and postmodernism. He also uses mixed media, such as pencil, acrylic, collage, watercolours and oil paints on paper or canvas. One of the distinctive features of his work is the use of African iconography, such as mystical, metaphysical, allegorical symbols and humanoid hybrid figures, inspired by the idea of scarification and Nigerian tribal symbology. Among these symbols we find the Adinkra and Nsibidi shapes, figures and geometries, as well as those of African Adire textiles. His work addresses contemporary themes such as climate change, the advent of the digital age and social media, and the symbiosis between humans and their environment. 
Kelechi will face 10 days quarantine on his arrival, because of the current pandemic. In this situation the aforementioned symbiosis between humans and the environment is altered, giving the artist the opportunity to confront this rapid metamorphosis of human and natural ecosystems. 
18 October 2020