Nnenna Okore (b. 1975, Australia) is a Nigerian-raised artist who creates abstract, richly textured wall sculptures from recycled materials. Okore’s large scale sculptures stem from her early-life experiences, addressing concepts of recycling, transformation, and regeneration of forms constructed by natural materials: found paper, fibers, coffee, and clay, often sourced from West Africa. Okore’s structures mimic the intricacies of the fabric, trees, bark, and topography familiar from her childhood in Nigeria. Her manually repetitive techniques of fraying, weaving, dyeing, and sewing recall her childhood experiences, where she watched and participated in daily manual activities like cooking, washing, harvesting, and fabricating brooms. Okore’s elaborate sculptures interact with their environments; she often strategically lights the work to cast shadows and highlight particular aspects. She sometimes pairs her sculptures with ambient sounds recalling her childhood in Nigeria or video projections. Okore’s work often surrounds the viewer, with installations extending up the walls and onto the ceiling or into the center of the room.

Okore is a Professor of Art at Chicago's North Park University, where she chairs the Art department and teaches courses in Art Theory and Sculptural Practices. Okore is a 2012 Fulbright Award recipient and Creative Victoria Creators Fund. Her works and public art have been featured in major venues, such as the Museum of Art and Design, NY; Spelman Museum of Fine Art, Museu Afro Brasil, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, the Bruges Triennial, the Chengdu International Biennial, Moody Center of Art, Bradbury Art Museum, and more recently at the University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art. Her 2018 exhibition at Jenkins Johnson Gallery was highlighted in Sculpture Magazine and her essay "Creating a Climate of Change: Bioplastic Call-and-Response" is part of a new publication: "The Work of Art in the Age of Planetary Destruction"; by Eds. Aarathi Prasad and David Osrin. Recent exhibitions include “Past Perfect: Celebrating 30 Years with 30 Artists’ at the Riverside Arts Center, “To Weave the Sky: Textile Abstractions’’ from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection, Right is Right at Jenkins Johnson Gallery. Okore lives and works in both Nigeria and Chicago, Illinois.

Selected collections include The Kruizenga Art Museum, Holland, MI; The Illinois EPA Capital Development Board, Chicago, IL; The Mercedes Benz Art Collection, Stuttgart, Germany; Orchid Resorts and Hotels, Lagos, Nigeria; Four Seasons Hotel and Resorts, CA; North Park University, Chicago, IL; World Bank, Washington DC; Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY; United States Embassy, Abuja, Nigeria; Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos, Nigeria; Newark Museum, New Jersey; Jean Paul Blachere Foundation, Apt, France; Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis, IN; Royal Collections, Abu Dhabi, UEA; Art House Contemporary Limited, Lagos, Nigeria; Channel 4, London, UK; Renaissance Capital, Moscow, Russia, Daraja Art Foundation, London, UK; among others.