As a first-generation, Black American artist, Nimah Gobir documents how she creates relationships and cultivates community in her paintings. Whether they’re of her partner in a sun-soaked room or her Nigerian mom holding her newly-born sister, Gobir’s portraits draw on memories that span decades. Her works present past moments but find new life as Gobir unravels and recontextualizes their impact on who she is today. Several of her paintings employ embroidery and other traditional craft techniques, conveying a tenderness and affection that have always been intertwined with what is traditionally women’s work for the family.

BIO:

Artist and educator Nimah Gobir was born in Los Angeles, CA, in 1993 and resides in Oakland, CA. Gobir completed her BFA in Studio Art and her BA in Peace Studies at Chapman University in Orange, CA, and earned her MEd from Harvard Graduate School of Education with a focus on Arts in Education.

Gobir has mounted recent solo exhibitions at Johansson Projects, Oakland, CA (2022), FM Oakland, Oakland, CA (2021), The Growlery, San Francisco, CA (2019), and the Guggenheim Gallery, Orange, CA (2015). She has been included in group exhibitions at Root Division, San Francisco, CA (2022) and SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA (2021).

She has won an Emerging Artist Professionals Fellowship (2019), The Growlery Artist Residency (2018), and the Blau Gold Fellow Studio-Artist Fellowship (2018).