About

Anguezomo Nathalie Mba Bikoro
(Gabon | 1985)

"Risk is essential in the concept & practice of democracy because it defines the moment when one chooses to make images or chooses to live them"

Bikoro is a conceptual artist from the region of Woleu-Ntem in North Gabon and is presently based in Berlin. A 10 year long battle with Leukaemia Cancer during their youth transposed her into different environments and languages in the Netherlands, France, UK, Brazil and Germany inevitably challenging her political positions, citizenship and feeding into her transdisciplinary practice as a visual activist, writer and teacher. The artist merges archeology, sonic radio, writing, textiles, sculpture, live art performances, film & archives for immersive installations. The work analyses processes of power & science fictions in historical archives critically engaging in migrational struggles and colonial memory. The artist creates environments for alternative narratives and future speculations of colonial resistance movements led by African women of the German, British and French diaspora and indigenous communities. Sedimented in narratives of testimonial Black queer experiences of sonic nature archives, revolt, queering ecologies and postcolonial feminist experiences towards new monuments which reacts to the different tones of societies shared between delusions & ritual. The work offers complex non-binary readings pushing new investigations about the architectures of racisms in cities, the archeologies of urban spaces & economies of traditional systems by exposing the limitations of technologies as functional memory records.

Mba Bikoro uses live art practices and digital photography story-telling to create living and performative archives contesting the nature of our cultures, histories and identity. Their practice works on the functions of performing archives contesting the purpose of our cultures, histories and identity through decolonial cannibal aesthetics. Their research is a time-machine reacting to sense-memory and political landscapes to create Human Monuments about spaces and peoples across all nations to re-invent memorial post colonial gestures towards freedom. These narratives are based on true stories and meander with visual fictions. Their practices often engages communities interactively by bridging societal constructs through educational theory and practice workshops in Decolonial Histories through Performance using sonorous archives, notably form colonial POW's between 1915-1942.
Mba Bikoro is a Guest Associate Lecturer in Political Visual Cultures, Philosophy & Fine Arts, Director of the programmes "Decolonial Performance Tours", "Workshops On Safe Spaces; Racial Structural Discrimination and Migrant & QBiPOC Mental Health Care" and is Artistic Director of the collective Nyabinghi_Lab with projects „Decolonise The Green; Nature, Nudism and Colonial Continuities“ and „Free State Of Barackia: 150 years of Decolonial Urbanisms, Solidarity & NeuBerlin Utopias“ at ZKU and HAU Berlin. She was curatorial director of performance programmes at SAVVY Contemporary (2016-2019).
Their most recent significant contributions have been shown in Havana Biennale (2019); Dak'art Biennale Senegal (2012 & 2018); Smithsonian Museum of African Art Washington DC (2013); Biennale De Bogota (2013); Tiwani Contemporary London (2012); Kalao Pan African Galleries Bilbao (2014); 798 Art District Gallery Beijing (2015); Museum of African Art Johannesburg (2011); Michael Stevenson Gallery Cape Town (2011); Tate Britain London (2009); Oxford Museum UK (2014); Bedfordbury Gallery London (2010) and South London Gallery (2010).
Mba Bikoro is the recipient of several awards including British Arts Council (2016), Senats Abteilung Kulturelle Angelegenheiten (2016), PRIMARY Artist Fellowship Research Award Nottingham (2019), Preis Der National Gallerie Award Nominee Hambuger Bahnoff Berlin (2019), Goethe Institut Bahia Salvador (2021) Fondation Blachère and Afrique Soleil Mali for Best Artist awarded at the 10th Dakar Biennale (2012), Best Discovery Award at New York Cutlog (2013), Ercillas Prize for Best Exhibition Award at FIG Bilbao (2014), HANGAR Research Fellowship Lisbon/Angola (2016).

Awards
2020 Fonds Darstellende Künste | Berlin
2020 HauptKulturFonds | Berlin
2019 Fellow Arts Award Villa Vasillief | Paris
2019 PRIMARY Artist Fellowship Research Award | Nottingham, UK
2019 Preis Der National Gallerie Award Nominee | Hambuger Bahnoff Berlin
2018 IASPIS Award Grant | Stockholm Sweden
2017 BBK Artist Recipient Award | Berlin
2017 Artist Research Fellowship | Hebbel Am Huffer | Berlin, Germany
2016 Goethe Institut Curator's Grant Award
2016 Senats Abteilung Kulturelle Angelegenheiten | Berlin Germany
2016 Arts Council England Artist Award
2016 Guis Sou Me Le Mbao (I Do Not See You at Mbao) | Apexart International Franchise Program Award
2016 HANGAR Research Fellowship Award | Lisbon, Portugal
2016 Goethe Institut South Africa
2016 TURN Award | Berlin, Germany
2016 Rathaus Schoöneberg Dezentrale KulturArbeit Bezirksamt Tempelhöf-Shöneberg | Berlin, Germany
2015 Arts Studio Research Grant | District Malzfabrik Berlin | Germany
2015 KunstBildende Award | Germany
2015 Performancear O Morir | Norogachi, Mexico
2014 Ercillas Prize for Best Exhibition Award | FIG Bilbao
2014 Manière Noire Artist Residency | Berlin Germany
2014 Savvy Contemporary Artist Residency | Berlin Germany
2013 Best Discovery Award | New York Cutlog
2013 La Otra Biennale Award | curated by Gabriela Salgado | Bogota Colombia
2013 Atelier Sahm Award | Brazzaville DRCongo
2012 Soleil D’Afrique Mali Award | Bamako, Mali
2012 Fondation Blachère Award | Apt, France
2011 Best Performance Art Award in Finland | presented by Presentatiioo
2011 Perpendicular Casa e Rua Award | Belo Horizonte, Brazil
2011 NSB Best Artist of the Year Award | Norbotten, Sweden
2009 Doctoral Research Fellowship | Greenwich University | London
2006 Stanley Picker Gallery Research Scholarship Award | Kingston, London

*full CV must be requested privately

Anguezomo Mba Bikoro