Tyna Adebowale Nigeria, b. b. 1982
Tyna Adebowale is a Nigerian artist based in AmsterdaM whoSE work addresses political, historical and social issues, including topics of gender, sexual orientation, politics and social media.
Tyna Adebowale works in a variety of media, including painting, drawing, installation and video. Her work focuses on the identity and oppression of queer women, often depicting intimate portraits of androgynous characters. Her paintings are known for their intricate precision of detailed lines, symbols and forms.
In 2018, Adebowale completed her two year her two year residency at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam.
“I wonder why the power of a woman is being questioned and repressed by a male dominated society. How insecure are these men? What are they afraid of and why? These are problems in societies like mine, that are usually stringed by extreme religiosity and patriarchy. Which in my view, is almost a global issue. Women have to constantly fight, to achieve and attain what is normal to men. Why so? Are we just supposed to follow these stringent laws and not ask questions?”
- Tyna Adebowale
Born in 1982 in Igarra, Nigeria, Tyna Adebowale was raised in Edo State and graduated in painting from Auchi Polytechnic. She moved to Abuja after her education, where she practiced as a full time studio artist for five years. She has been based in Amsterdam since 2016.
Adebowale has taken part in workshops and artist residencies at the Foundation for Contemporary Art, Accra; the Nigeria Brazil Cultural Centre in Belo Horizonte, Brazil; the Bakassi Peninsul’Art in Limbe, Cameroon; the University of Cape Town, South Africa; the Center for Contemporary Art (CCA) Lagos; and the Arthouse Foundation in Lagos. In 2018, she completed her two year her two year residency at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam.
Adebowale has exhibited widely in Nigeria, The Netherlands, Brazil, Cameroon, South Africa and Ghana. Recent exhibitions include Traces at Tabari Art Space (Dubai) in 2018; Generation Y, Afro-Modernism (Abuja) in 2018; The Archive: Static, Embodied, Practiced (Accra) in 2013, and Plights of Women (Abuja) in 2013.
