Ifeanyi Awachie

Dissertation

Title: Curating Diasporic Nigerian Women Filmmakers

Supervisor: Josslyn Luckett

My project looks at diasporic Nigerian women’s filmmaking in the US and UK contemporary art worlds, with a focus on artists including Sheila Chukwulozie, Jenn Nkiru, and Zina Saro-Wiwa. I consider the curatorial approaches to these filmmakers and how they engage African diasporic audiences. I look particularly at the roles of informality, knowledge transmission, and cultural specificity in the mediation of the filmmakers’ work.

Bio

Ifeanyi Awachie is a Nigeria-born, Atlanta-raised writer, curator, and filmmaker. She is the writer and director of This Thing Is Not for You (2022), produced by WATZS Productions, LLC, which has screened at festivals in cities including New York and San Francisco. She is a creative director of FUNCTION UK, a gallery and practice at the intersection of art, fashion, and film, and founder of AFRICA SALON, a contemporary African arts festival. Ifeanyi previously worked as Assistant Curator at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts. She has given talks and lectures and sat on panels at The New School, the Slade School of Fine Art, the Royal College of Art, SOAS University of London, Tate Modern, and the University of Groningen. Her writing appears in publications including Feminist Review and ASAP/Journal.