Naomi Lulendo
© Courtesy of Selebe Yoon, Dakar
Naomi Lulendo (b.1994, France) is a French-Guadeloupean-Congolese artist based in Dakar, Senegal. With a multicultural background, the artist traveled between the Caraïbes and France throughout her childhood.
From photography, ceramics, installation and video, she uses the concept of “misappropriation” of words, meanings, objects and identity in her work. She inventories images and symbols from various geographical spaces - from fashion imagery, kitsch decor, interior spaces, architectural patterns, to botanical motifs to understand how they relate to a given territory, imagined or fantasized, often considered as “exotic.”
Using the principle of play as a visual strategy to explore the constructions of identity, some of her works explore the relation to the body and memory, through intimate objects such as combs, tights, mirrors.
Her puzzle pieces are composed of images taken from fashion magazines or of distorted self-portraits taken against varying patterned fabric. One single piece always remains missing from the board.
Interested in cosmologies, particularly voodoo cosmology, she draws from the language, tales, and aesthetics of her Creole and African origins.
Works
Potomitan, 2023, Installation, Ceramic, metal, basketry, tights and concrete
Potomitan I, 2023, Sculpture with ceramic, metal, basketry, tights and concrete
Ceci est mon corps (This is my body) 2021 Sand, pigments, concrete and lime stone
Faites vos Je III-02, 2023 Photographic impression on wooden puzzle pieces with wooden frame 40x51CM
Faites vos Je I-02, 2023 Photographic impression on wooden puzzle pieces with wooden frame 40x51CM
Faites vos Je II-02, 2023 Photographic impression on wooden puzzle pieces with wooden frame 40x51CM
Un Chateau en Espagne, 2021, Sand, soil and concrete
Les Trois Grâce #3 2020 Photographic impression on wooden puzzle pieces with wooden frame 40x51CM
« Les Trois Grâces », 2021, Collage on fabric
Unfinished Camp, still from video "All Eyes On Me", 2021
ARCHI(S)PELL 2023, FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, FARaway - Festivals des Arts à Reims, 2023- Credit Photo: V. Van Den Hende
Biography
Naomi Lulendo born in 1994 in France, is a French-Guadeloupean-Congolese artist. With a multicultural background, the artist traveled between the Caraïbes and France throughout her childhood. From photography, ceramics, installation and video, she uses the concept of “misappropriation” of words, meanings, objects and identity in her work.
Naomi Lulendo holds an MFA degree from the Beaux-Arts School of Paris (2018). Throughout her education, Pascale Marthine Tayou became her mentor.
She had two solo exhibitions: “Bleu Miroir” at Agences Trames in Dakar (2021); “Faites vos Je” at the Beaux-Arts, Paris (2018). Recently, she presented the performance “Archi(s)pell” at the Le Frac Reims, in France as part of the FAR AWAY Festival (2023).
Her work was included in several group exhibitions: « Dérives en péninsule » at l’Atlas, Paris, France (2023); « D’ailleurs je viens d’ici » curated by Sandrine Honliasso and Ariane Leblanc, at Comédie de Caen, Normandie, France (2021); « On fait des dessins dans la terre » curated by Eva Barois de Caevel, Galerie 31Project, Paris, France (2021); « L’heure rouge » , 14th Dakar Biennale OFF, Galerie Le Manège, Dakar, Senegal (2018); « Extrangers », Tevere Art Gallery, Rome, Italy (2017); « Explosition », Chapitre 2 at Galleria Continua, les Moulins, France (2016); « Transmissions, Recréation, Répétition » curated by Sarina Basta at Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France (2015); « Explosition », Galerie l’Amour, Bagnolet, France (2015); « Transition » curated by Anais de Senneville and Aurélie Tifreau at Galerie L’inattendue, Paris, France (2015); « Ici au lieu de là- bas », Maison des ensembles, Paris, France (2014). Naomi Lulendo also did several public performances: « Archi(s)pell » at the Le Frac Reims, in France as part of the FAR AWAY Festival (2023); at Bétonsalon, Centre d’art et de recherche, Paris, France (2020); Galerie Allen (2019); Raw Material Company, Dakar, Senegal (2018).
In 2021 she was among the artists selected by Zeitz MOCAA (South Africa) to join "Unfinished Camp", an ongoing international network of artists and nine art institutions on six continents, conceived and directed by Hans Ulrich Obrist and András Szánto. She was also a fellow at the Raw Academie for the fifth session, directed by artist Otobong Nkanga; and at Agence Trames, Dakar, Senegal (2021). Naomi Lulendo will exhibit at Selebe Yoon in 2023.
She lives and works in Dakar, Senegal.
Past exhibitions
Dérives en Péninsule, L'Atlas presented by Selebe Yoon (2023)
ARCHI(S)PELL 2023, FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, FARaway - Festivals des Arts à Reims, 2023- Credit Photo: V. Van Den Hende
"On fait des dessins dans la terre" Galerie 31Project, Paris (2021)
"D'ailleurs je viens d'ici, la Comédie de Caen, Normandie, France (2021)