Victoria-Idongesit Udondian

Victoria-Idongesit Udondian
Born1982 (age 43–44)
Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria
Alma mater
Awards

Victoria-Idongesit Udondian (born 1982), also known as Victoria Udondian, is a Nigerian artist. Specializing in textile work, installations, and performance art, her work often involves themes of Black history, labour, and the global trade of secondhand clothing. She is a 2019 MacDowell Fellow and a 2020 Guggenheim Fellow.

Biography

Victoria-Idongesit Udondian was born in 1982 in Akwa Ibom State.[1] After training as a fashion designer and tailor,[2] she obtained a BA in Painting from the University of Uyo in 2004.[1] Udondian recalled that during her time at Uyo, she once had to take a night bus "about 450 miles to Lagos" to get enough oil paint for her university course.[3] She cites Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui as an influence in her work.[3]

In 2010, Udondian travelled throughout Africa to resource the continent's cultural and economic relationship with the global trade of secondhand clothing.[4] Her textile work Aso Ikele (1948) was part of the 2012 Manchester art show We Face Forward: Art from West Africa Today; AfricanaH said that it "takes the Whitworth's textile collection as its starting point",[4] while Bob Dickinson of Art Monthly remarked that it draws from the way "trade underlines the history of West Africa's relationship with Manchester from slave-trade days to the industrial revolution", as well as the 1945 Pan-African Congress.[5] She appeared at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015.[4] In 2016, she obtained an MFA in Sculpture and New Genres from Columbia University[1] and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.[6] In 2017, she started her project The Republic of Unknown Territory while becoming a naturalized American citizen.[7]

Udondian was a MacDowell Fellow in 2019.[8] In 2020, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Fine Arts.[9] In 2022, she held her first New York City solo exhibition at Smack Mellon, How Can I Be Nobody, an installation which uses black-colored fabric "in acknowledgement of the black and brown lives lost in search of better conditions".[7] She met several Brooklyn immigrant communities as part of her research for How Can I Be Nobody.[2] In collaboration with dancer Raven McRae and choreographer Danion Lewis, she started the performance installation Nsi nam mi ke ndi that same year.[2]

Udondian's work appeared at the 2023 British Textile Biennial.[10] She won a 2024 Anonymous Was a Woman Environmental Art Grant for her work Okrika Reclaimed.[11] A collaboration with the Foundation for Contemporary Art, Okrika Reclaimed appeared at Kantamanto on 12 July 2025.[10] Udondian remarked that some of her work, including Okrika Reclaimed, is designed to question the trend of secondhand clothing by addressing Africa's growing problem with textile waste.[10] She will appear at the 61st Venice Biennale.[12]

Ayanna Dozier remarked that themes of Udondian's artwork often involve "unseen" forms of labour and stereotypically feminine work, including domestic work, the service industry, and the textile industry.[2] Additionally, Udondian focuses on the relationship between clothing and identity as a theme.[13]

As of 2022, Udondian was based in Lagos and Brooklyn.[2] She is also a visiting associate professor at the Center for the Arts, University at Buffalo, and she served as interim director of graduate studies during their fall 2025 semester.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Victoria-Idongesit Udondian". kó. Retrieved 25 February 2026.
  2. ^ a b c d e Dozier, Ayanna (5 April 2022). "Victoria-Idongesit Udondian Weaves the Stories of Immigrant Labor into Tapestry Sculptures". Artsy. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
  3. ^ a b Udondian, Victoria-Idongesit (19 May 2022). "Victoria-Idongesit Udondian: How El Anatsui Reshaped My Awareness of Art Materials". ELEPHANT (Interview). Interviewed by Holly Black. Retrieved 27 February 2026.
  4. ^ a b c "Venice Biennial: Victoria Udondian, Nigeria". africanah.org. 20 April 2015. Archived from the original on 19 July 2025. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
  5. ^ Dickinson, Bob (2012). "We Face Forward: Art from West Africa Today". Art Monthly. No. 358. p. 23-24. ProQuest 1025746895.
  6. ^ "Alumni & Faculty". Skowhegan. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
  7. ^ a b Fisher, Catherine (29 March 2022). "Alumna Victoria-Idongesit Udondian '16 Featured in Solo Show". arts.columbia.edu. Retrieved 27 February 2026.
  8. ^ "Victoria-Idongesit Udondian - MacDowell Fellow in Visual Arts". MacDowell. Retrieved 25 February 2026.
  9. ^ "Victoria-Idongesit Udondian". Guggenheim Fellowships. Retrieved 25 February 2026.
  10. ^ a b c Akubuiro, Henry (10 July 2025). "In Accra, Udondian's Okrika Reclaimed confronts". The Sun. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
  11. ^ "Anonymous Was a Woman Awards $308,000 in Environmental Art Grants". Artforum. 20 August 2024. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
  12. ^ "Venice Biennale Names Participating Artists for 2026 Edition". Artforum. 25 February 2026. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
  13. ^ a b "Victoria Udondian (Visiting Associate Professor)". arts-sciences.buffalo.edu. Retrieved 27 February 2026.
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