MFA, Sculpture and New Genres, Columbia University in the City of New York, New York, USA
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan Maine, USA
BA, Fine Arts (Painting), University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Bio

Victoria Udondian’s work is driven by her interest in textiles and the potential for clothing to shape identity, informed by the histories and tacit meanings embedded in everyday materials. With training spanning tailoring, painting, sculpture and new genres, she creates large-scale interdisciplinary projects with textiles as a central medium. In addition to textiles, she draws from her experiences growing up in Nigeria to create sculpture, installation, performance, photography, video and most recently ceramics.

Udondian’s work raises questions about our post-colonial condition within an ever-expanding globalized society by examining the intersection between migration, labour and global trade systems. In 2020, Udondian was named a Guggenheim fellow. Her works have been exhibited internationally in Lagos, Venice, New York, and the UK, including South London Gallery, London; The Inaugural Nigerian Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennial-An Excerpt, Fisher Landau Centre for the Arts, New York; The Children Museum of Manhattan, New York; National Museum, Lagos; Whitworth Gallery in Manchester; etc. Some of her Artist Residencies include Instituto Sacatar, Bahia, Brazil; Mass Moca, Massachusetts; Fondazione di Venezia, Venice and Bag Factory Studios, Johannesburg.

Awards

Guggenheim Fellow, USA
Pollock Krasner Grant Award, New York
Most Outstanding Production Award, National Arts Competition, Lagos Nigeria
National Gallery of Art, Nigeria ‘Award for Exhibition’: Second African Regional Summit and Exhibition on Visual Arts (ARESUVA) Abuja, Nigeria

Artwork by Udondian

Ofong Ufok, 2019-2022

Installation: Large hand-woven textiles, Second-hand clothes, repurposed textile, rope, Dye

Dimension variable

Ofong Ufok is part of a larger body of work exploring the role of immigrant labor within capitalist labor market system, where labor is exploited for capital gains. Ofong Ufok uses second-hand materials woven and stitched together by the artist and the local immigrant community in Buffalo, NY. Udondian collaborated with the organization Stitch Buffalo who operate a refugee integration program for immigrant women. The artwork was inspired by the 1910 garment workers strike in Chicago, which lasted until 1911. Fueled by tensions related to low wages, irregular work shifts and hazardous working conditions, the concessions gained from the strike did not impact or transform global systems of production. As such, the textile represents a weaving of global narratives from immigrant communities whose labor continues to be exploited by capitalism. Working with second-hand clothes is also significant as she begins to consider how fast fashion is produced mostly in the global south under repressive conditions. These clothes end up in landfills in Africa, having a huge impact on the environment and cultural Identity. Udondian examines the intersectionality between immigration, labor, and global trade systems, and raises questions about our postcolonial condition.