Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze

Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze (born 1982), is a Nigerian-born British-American artist noted for drawings and works on paper which focus on cultural hybridity or "post-colonial non-nationalism." In addition to being an artist, she has also worked as a teacher and curator. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Early life and education Amanze was born in Nigeria in 1982. She was raised in the United Kingdom, living there for 13 years before coming to the United States in 2004 when she moved to Philadelphia.

She received a B.F.A. degree summa cum laude from the Tyler School of Art at Philadelphia's Temple University in 2004. She received her M.F.A degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Her mixed-media drawings center on the concept of displacement and cultural hybridity.

Drawing has become her primary medium, with Amanze describing it as "constantly reinventing itself". Only in college did she depart from drawing as her primary medium, instead majoring in the art of photography and textiles. her work conveys cultural displacement, anxiety, and identity, inspired by her “pieced-together memories” of Nigeria. These works explore a sense of displacement and existence between places, evoking feelings of homesickness and longing.

Amanze was an Artist-in-Residence at the Cooper Union School of Art in New York, NY in 2011, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council from 2014 to 2015,

Selected exhibitions Amanze has exhibited internationally. Her solo exhibitions include:

there are even moonbeams we can unfold (2018) at Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa Salt Water (2015) at Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa astroturf rooftop picnics (2015) at Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY a story. in parts. (2015) at Tiwani Contemporary, London, UK The Armory Show Focus (2016) at Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, Seattle, WA STAR FISH (2017) at Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY

Collections Amanze's work is held in permanent collections including:

Deutsche Bank, London, U.K. The Jewish Museum, New York, USA The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, USA The Microsoft Collection Montblanc Cultural Foundation