Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju
Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju is a transdisciplinary Nigerian-American artist and writer living in Berlin. Recurring points of interest in her work include the political processes of perversion, sexuality and intimacy in relation to desire, trauma, and body image, improvisation, intersectional anti-colonial methodologies, queer mechanisms in liberation pursuits, religion and spirituality, and memory, innocence, and the recovery of child selves. Her main concern as an artist, next to the catharsis of creation, is to look at the frayed edges and ruptures of constructed realities and locate spaces where healing, liberation, and (re)generation can take place.
Monilola graduated from New York University in 2018 where she studied Studio Art (Honors Studio) and Social and Cultural Analysis, the latter of which focused on the intersections of race and cultural studies, gender and sexuality studies, philosophy, sociology, and political science. The knowledge acquired in these fields continues to inform her practice today. She is also an alumna of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Class of 2018. In addition to her studio practice, Ilupeju has also done extensive curatorial and editorial work with SAVVY Contemporary and Archive Books, among others.