Njideka Akunyili Crosby

Russell Lecture with MCASD

November 4, 2020
5:00 p.m. PST

MCASD and the University of California, San Diego are proud to bring internationally acclaimed artists to San Diego through the annual Russell Lecture program. This year's lecture features renowned Nigerian-born, LA-based artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby, who is known for her mixed media paintings that include photo transfers and textiles of her home country. Crosby’s tender, domestic scenes are painted at almost human-scale. Drawing from her experience as a Nigerian woman living in the United States, Crosby places black and brown people at the center of her work to show the syncretism of both cultures. She was a participant in La Biennale di Venezia, 58th International Art Exhibition, May You Live in Interesting Times, curated by Ralph Rugoff (2019). Recent solo exhibitions include Njideka Akunyili Crosby: "The Beautyful Ones," The National Portrait Gallery, London (2018-19), and Counterparts, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX (2018-19), Baltimore Museum of Art, MD (2017-18). She is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Art from Swarthmore College in 2019, a 2017 MacArthur Fellowship, and was awarded Financial Times' Women of the Year in 2016.

Photo by Brigitte Sire, 2016.

http://www.njidekaakunyilicrosby.com/

The Russell Foundation was established in the will of Betty Russell, one of MCASD's founding docents and a long-time supporter of UC San Diego. She specified that funds from the foundation should help "foster the appreciation and study of the modern visual arts and creativity of young artists" through support for the Museum and the University. Past Russell Lecture speakers have included Rodney McMillian (2019), Zackary Drucker (2018), Miguel Calderón (2017), Andrea Bowers (2016), Judith Barry (2015), Tacita Dean (2014), Byron Kim (2013), Tania Bruguera (2012), and Isaac Julien (2011).

Presented with support from MCASD