IN PERSON/ONLINE — Wednesday, January 31 at 6:30 p.m. (MT) in Visual Arts 111
ZOOM REGISTRATION: https://uwyo.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ZYVBOPYBQeSyG5ZCkg6nIQ
Catered reception to follow
Thursday, February 1, 2:00-3:30PM
Visual Arts Lobby
Ekow Nimako: Building Beyond is a fun and educational LEGO® activity for people aged 5+. Participants get to imagine –and build– their own distant futuristic descendants, while visual artist and creator Ekow Nimako shares critical insights on his sculptural work, the importance of Afrofuturism, and how LEGO® play can be used to rebuild a more inclusive world for us all.
Seats are limited. Please RSVP to Alex Soto asoto5@uwyo.edu with your intent to attend. More information can be found here: https://www.ekownimako.com/instructionalsets
Ekow Nimako is a Ghanaian-Canadian, internationally exhibiting artist who crafts futuristic and whimsical sculptures from LEGO®. Rooted in his childhood practice and intrinsic creativity, Nimako’s formal arts education and background as a lifelong multidisciplinary artist inform his process and signature aesthetic. His fluid building style, coupled with the Afrofuturistic themes of his work, beautifully transcend the geometric medium to embody organic and fantastical silhouettes.
The evolution of his large-scale figurative installations led to the fantastical equestrian monument Cavalier Noir, conceptualized in collaboration with Director X in 2018. The monochromatic unicorn and warrior rider not only embodied hope and heroism, but also subverted the dominant imagination of public monuments while centering underrepresented Black narratives.
Nimako’s installation To Feed the Village, the Young Must Grow, presented a tender outdoor gardenscape concerned with the transmittance of sanctuary and harmony for vulnerable beings. The exhibit debuted at Berlin’s Urban Contemporary Art Biennale hosted by Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art in 2019.
Nimako’s medieval Africa inspired series Building Black Civilizations opened in 2019 at the Aga Khan Museum. The architectural pieces explored speculative narratives of sub-Saharan Africa during the middle ages, with detailed references to African architecture, Islamic civilizations, and Africanfuturism. The anticipated follow-up to this exhibition, Building Black Civilizations: Journey of 2000 Ships premiered at Dunlop Gallery in Regina in the fall of 2022, and will be touring through 2024/2025.
Nimako’s body of work Building Black AMORPHIA presents artworks that thread together elements of West African mask making traditions and organic forms to create an amorphous and fantastical tapestry. The series first exhibited at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto in 2020. Following this series, Building Black AMORPHIA: Spiritual Starships will premiere at the Doris McCarthy Gallery in January 2026.
Nimako’s work has been featured in media outlets and publications such as NOW Magazine, esse, Studio Magazine, CBC, CBC Radio, Global News, TorontoLife, VICE, BBC, Toronto Star, BlogTO, DAZED, Yanko Design, CNN, SHARP, Hyperallergic, Colossal, WIRED, and the Globe and Mail. Formalizing his official partnership with The LEGO® Group in 2022, Nimako’s art practice, creative process, and educational workshop Building Beyond were highlighted in the D&AD Award-winning documentary short Rebuild the World, directed by LeSean Harris of Fela.tv.
Nimako has exhibited works in Canada, United States, Germany, Korea, UAE, Austria, and the United Kingdom. His artworks have been acquired by the TD Bank Corporate Art Collection, Global Affairs Canada Visual Art Collection, Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art, and the Aga Khan Museum Permanent Collection.
Using over 500,000 black LEGO® elements, Ekow Nimako Studios presents Building Black Civilizations: Journey of 2000 Ships, an expansive reimagining of the mysterious sea voyage of Mansa Abu Bakr II, the visionary 9th ruler of the medieval empire of Mali.
With various upscaled geographical and architectural sculptures, this body of work explores key speculative events and regions of the historic voyage of Mansa Abu Bakr II's fleet of 2000 vessels that left the west coast of Africa in the 14th century never to return.
By blurring the lines of historical fiction and fact through the lens of Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism, Ekow Nimako masterfully presents an uninterrupted and uncoopted narrative of Black Civilizations, that simultaneously imagines a bold and liberated future.
Title: Asamando, 2022
This artwork derives its title from the Akan land of the dead, or morespecifically the underground dwelling place of the nsamanfo (ancestors). Within the context of Mansa Abu Bakr II’s epic 14th century voyage,Asamando represents the final fantastical site of the journey. The serpentine shape of the city is symbolic of the Akan belief that snakes are vessels for spirits.
@ekownimako
www.ekownimako.com
