Regina Agu
About:
Drawing mutual inspiration from her Nigerian and Louisiana bayou roots, Houston-based artist Regina Agu’s provocative collages and installations often elicit a call-and-response reaction much in the same vein as traditional African storytelling. “I’m really interested in looking at the intersection between memory and history, which influences the majority of my work,” notes the Cornell University graduate. Applying an interdisciplinary approach to her mixed-media pieces, the artist interweaves nuances of a divided cultural identity generated by a childhood split between Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, South Africa and Switzerland. “I got to experience a lot of different cultures and languages at a very young age, which helped shape and inform my art,” she says. Agu’s collages—a patchwork of vintage textbooks, drawings and her own photography—are evocative of a deep interest in world politics and meta- phorically link her ancestral past to an ever-promising future. “I’m really drawn to African culture,” Agu explains. “This along with my experiences, people that I’ve met and photo archives are always a source of inspiration.”
Night Doctors.
Regina Agu is a self-taught visual artist living and working in Houston, TX. She was born in Houston and was raised moving frequently throughout Africa and Europe, leaving the U.S. at a young age. She is a graduate of Cornell University, with a Bachelors of Science in Policy Analysis and Management. Agu found a creative home in Houston upon her return, and transitioned to actively producing and exhibiting new visual and written works.
Oracle, 2012.
Her work has been included in group exhibitions and readings at New Museum (NY), Textile Arts Center (NY), TSU Museum (TX), Mountain View College (TX), labotanica (TX), and Project Row Houses (TX), among other venues. She is a 2012 Houston Arts Alliance Grantee. In 2011, she was an Artist-in-Residence at Atlantic Center for the Arts (FL), and was a participant in the DW(2) Development Workshops at Diverseworks. More about the artist at http://www.reginaagu.com
The Journey Home, 2012.
Drape Panorama, 2017 (below)
