photo by Yero Adugna Eticha, 2023
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Anguezomo Nzé Mboulou Mba Bikoro
Mba Bikoro (Gabon) is a visual artist, curator, writer, lecturer, holistic practitioner and ancestral healer rooted from their family's heritage in Woleu-Ntem. Mba Bikoro works at the intersections of law, art, activism, education, therapy and psychology. They practice ancestral de-traumatisation rituals and the decolonisation of embodied archives using somatic processes and botanic knowledge. Their work honours queer histories and feminist black indigenous struggles centering Bakongo Cosmology, Obeah, Capoeira and Orixa practices which works on healing inter-generational traumas, empowering communities and sharing resources to create tools of safety towards self-autonomy & transformation in mental health. Anguezomo has developed formats for ritual through ancestral healing that often exposes the interwoven colonial histories of migration in site-specific spaces to dismantle prejudice and create independent emancipatory tools for liberation, education, and reparation. Their works were shown in numerous world Biennales and exhibitions including the Dak’Art Biennale and is author & publisher of "The Yellow Rape Fields: The Silences I Want To Hear From the Poems That Will Throw Me in Prison" (2025), "When The Jackal Leaves The Sun" (2024) and “Obeah: Botany, Ancestry & Grief” (2025). |
They are Artistic & Curatorial Director of Nyabinghi Lab g.UG. (a multi-disciplinary decolonial feminist project focusing on creative practice, activism, mental health and ecologies), artistic committee of District School Without Center e.V., writer of numerous book articles and publications including AFRIKADAA (2025), theatre scenographer & set designer of Vielleicht a Black feminist decolonial story on German colonialism (now touring worldwide), Artistic Director of When The Jackal Leaves The Sun (2022-2025) and We Who Move The World Forward (2024). They are a UK Guest Associate Lecturer in Visual Cultures, Philosophy & Fine Art Practice. They were Curatorial Director of performance & black feminism programmes at SAVVY Contemporary between 2016-2019 notably with "We Who Are Not The Same", "Speaking Feminisms" and "Ecologies Of Darkness".
Anguezomo is a guest university lecturer in Curatorial Studies (MFA), Fine Arts (MFA) and Gender Studies (B.A) and conference speaker in museums and archival collections in the UK, Germany and worldwide. They are newly appointed editorial board of member of "Performing Ethos: International Journal of Ethics in Theatre & Performance" published by Intellect Books, writer on AFRIKADAA journal (The Politics of Sound), publisher of Black Zines collections NY and When The Jackals Leaves The Sun, curator of Miss Read's Black Feminist and Queer voices discursive programme and book art fair. They also produce regular radio series on Refuge Worldwide.
Their work in the last 20 years centers on decolonial histories, black queer radical feminism, de-institutionalised education, mental health practices, somatic body work and community refugee activism. Their most significant contributions have been shown in Venice Biennale (2018); Dak'art Biennale Senegal (2012 & 2018); Smithsonian Museum of African Art Washington DC (2013); Musée Théodore Monod IFAN Dakar (2023), La Otra Biennale De Bogota Colombia (2013); Tiwani Contemporary London (2012); Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt (2022), Museum of African Art Johannesburg (2011); Michael Stevenson Gallery Cape Town (2011); Tate Britain London (2009); Kalao Pan African Galleries Bilbao (2014); 798 Art District Gallery Beijing (2015); Havana Biennale (2019); Oxford Museum UK (2014); Bedfordbury Gallery London (2010), KINDL Gallery (2024) and South London Gallery (2010).
Mba Bikoro is the recipient of several awards including Goethe Institute Artistic Fellowship in Salvador-Bahia (2023), TURN2 Curatorial Fellowship NCAI Nairobi (2022), Berliner Förderprogramm Künstlerische Forschung (2022-23), British Arts Council (2016), PRIMARY Artist Fellowship Award Nottingham (2019), Preis Der National Gallerie Award Nominee Hambuger Bahnoff Berlin (2019), Goethe Institute Bahia Salvador (2023), 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).
Anguezomo is also a trained ancestral healer, decolonial therapist, black-botanical herbalist and somatic body work practitioner which comes as intersectional practice inside her artistic projects for modes of creation, connection, de-traumatisation, coaching and collective community empowerment.
Anguezomo is a guest university lecturer in Curatorial Studies (MFA), Fine Arts (MFA) and Gender Studies (B.A) and conference speaker in museums and archival collections in the UK, Germany and worldwide. They are newly appointed editorial board of member of "Performing Ethos: International Journal of Ethics in Theatre & Performance" published by Intellect Books, writer on AFRIKADAA journal (The Politics of Sound), publisher of Black Zines collections NY and When The Jackals Leaves The Sun, curator of Miss Read's Black Feminist and Queer voices discursive programme and book art fair. They also produce regular radio series on Refuge Worldwide.
Their work in the last 20 years centers on decolonial histories, black queer radical feminism, de-institutionalised education, mental health practices, somatic body work and community refugee activism. Their most significant contributions have been shown in Venice Biennale (2018); Dak'art Biennale Senegal (2012 & 2018); Smithsonian Museum of African Art Washington DC (2013); Musée Théodore Monod IFAN Dakar (2023), La Otra Biennale De Bogota Colombia (2013); Tiwani Contemporary London (2012); Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt (2022), Museum of African Art Johannesburg (2011); Michael Stevenson Gallery Cape Town (2011); Tate Britain London (2009); Kalao Pan African Galleries Bilbao (2014); 798 Art District Gallery Beijing (2015); Havana Biennale (2019); Oxford Museum UK (2014); Bedfordbury Gallery London (2010), KINDL Gallery (2024) and South London Gallery (2010).
Mba Bikoro is the recipient of several awards including Goethe Institute Artistic Fellowship in Salvador-Bahia (2023), TURN2 Curatorial Fellowship NCAI Nairobi (2022), Berliner Förderprogramm Künstlerische Forschung (2022-23), British Arts Council (2016), PRIMARY Artist Fellowship Award Nottingham (2019), Preis Der National Gallerie Award Nominee Hambuger Bahnoff Berlin (2019), Goethe Institute Bahia Salvador (2023), 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).
Anguezomo is also a trained ancestral healer, decolonial therapist, black-botanical herbalist and somatic body work practitioner which comes as intersectional practice inside her artistic projects for modes of creation, connection, de-traumatisation, coaching and collective community empowerment.
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Awards 2024 Stipendien Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalt 2023 Goethe Institut Salvador-Bahia Artistic Research Fellowship, Brazil 2022-23 Berliner Förderprogramm Künstlerische Forschung / Berlin Artistic Research Grant Programme 2022 TURN Curatorial Fellowship Nairobi 2020 Fonds Darstellende Künste | Berlin 2020 HauptKulturFonds | Berlin 2019 PRIMARY Artist Fellowship Research Award | Nottingham, UK 2019 Preis Der National Gallerie Award Nominee | Hambuger Bahnoff Berlin 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 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 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 is requested privately |
Selected Exhibitions
2024 Voyage Au Bout De la Pirogue | Re-imaginer le Passé | KINDL Contemporary Art Berlin 2023 Voyage Au Bout De la Pirogue | Re-imaginer le Passé | Musée IFAN Monod Dakar, Senegal 2022 TRIBUNALS She* Mangrove Archives | The Whole Life Archives & Imaginaries | Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt Berlin 2022 Congotay! Congotay! | Thunder In My Throat | Neuer Berliner Kunstverein Berlin 2021 Sprachlosigkeit: Die Laute Verstummen | Japanische Palais Dresden 2020 Lumières d'Afrique, Light in Times of Growing Uncertainty, Standard Bank Gallery Johannesburg, South Africa 2020 Poröse Stadt | Kunstraum Bethanien Berlin 2019 A History On Lateness | Embracing Realities | Theatre of Düsseldorf - Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus 2019 A History On Lateness | PRIMARY Gallery | Nottingham UK 2019 Black A(n)thena | Listening As Practice | Goethe Institut, Mumbai India 2018 Black A(n)thena (Kosmos) | Radiophonic Funkkolleg III: Politics of Hearing Space | HKW Berlin 2018 Our Tools Were Rudimentary Yet We Pressed On (Sonic Technologies of African Godesses) | Minor Cosmopolitanism | HKW Berlin 2018 Madame Tirailleurs | DAK'Art Biennale, Ancien Palais Dakar & Gallerie Au Fil Du Fleuve St Louis, Senegal 2017 Reframing Worlds – Mobility and Gender in a Postcolonial, Feminist Perspective, Körnerpark Gallery 2017 Republik Repair Right To Mourn Right To Monument | Hydra Plantation Radio | Ballhaus Naunynstrasse 2017 Forschungswerkstatt: Kolonialgeshichte in Tempelhof und Schöneberg | Tempelhof-Shöneberg Museum | Berlin, Germany 2017 Africa Raaontare Un Mondo | After The Independence; Introspection of the Identity; the Body & Politics of Distance | Padiglione D’Arte Contemporanea | Milan, Italy 2017 When The Heavens Meet The Earth | Heong Gallery | Cambridge, UK 2017 Unacknowledged Loss | Hebbel Am Huffer | Berlin, Germany 2017 The Parliament Of Bodies; How Does It Feel To Be A Problem? | Documenta14 | Kassel, Germany 2017 Von Zeigen Und Schauen | A History On Lateness | Grassi Museum | Leipzig, Germany 2017 On Rhythmanalysis; That Around Which The Universe Evolves | SAVVY Contemporary | FFT Düsseldorf 2017 Beyond Binaries | KZNSA Gallery Durban | South Africa 2016 Guis Sou Me Le Mbao (I Do Not See You at Mbao) | Musée Thiaoryé Senegal 2016 Hydra Plantation Radio; Last Barometz Collection | Gallerie Wedding | Berlin Germany 2016 Squat Monument Decolonial Archives | Museen Tempelhof-Schoneberg | Berlin Germany 2016 Trümmerberg Kilimanjaro (We Built The Kilimanjaro) | District Malzfabrik | Berlin Germany 2014 Frieze New York, curated by TURF New York 2014 Armory Arts Week, curated by TURF New York 2014 Take This Hammer; Actions Towards Freedom | Kalao Pan African Galleries | Bilbao Spain 2013 El Carrusel | La Otra Biennale | Bogota, Colombia 2013 The Uncomfortable Truth | Earth Matters | Smithsonian Museum of African Art | Washington DC USA 2012 The Middle Passage; Re-staging Alice In Wonderland | Tiwani Contemporary | London UK 2012 The Playground | La Biennale de Dak’Art | Dakar Senegal 2012 The Yellow Crossing; The Peoples’ Waltz | La Biennale de Dak’Art OFF | St Louis Senegal 2011 Space: Modern Currencies on Contemporary African Art | National Museum of African Art | Cape Town, South Africa 2011 A Gaze Into Contemporary African Art | South London Gallery | UK 2011 Twist in the Ta(i)le | Savvy Contemporary | Berlin Germany 2010 African Heritage | Bedfordbury Gallery | London UK 2009 Hidden | National Portrait Gallery | London UK |