Hugh Hayden in conversation with Chika Okeke-Agulu

3 February 2020

To coincide with Hugh Hayden's exhibition Creation Myths at Princeton University Art Museum, a special in conversation event will be held on Thursday evening, 20 February with professor Chika Okeke-Agulu.

Hugh Hayden (b. 1983) works with materials that have fascinating, politically charged histories. Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Hayden often draws from his own background and experiences to derive the forms and meanings of his works. For Creation Myths, the artist’s first solo presentation in a museum context, Hayden responds to the history of Bainbridge House, and to Princeton more broadly. He has created four distinct—but interconnected—spaces: a kitchen, dining room, study, and classroom. Each space is defined by an installation; together, they craft a narrative—part fiction, part history—that evokes such themes as cuisine, leisure, and education.

Chika Okeke-Agulu is Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Art & Archaeology at Princeton University. He specializes in classical, modern, and contemporary African and African Diaspora art history and theory. He is the author of Obiora Udechukwu: Line, Image, Text (Skira Editore, 2016); Postcolonial Modernism: Art and Decolonization in Twentieth-Century Nigeria (Duke, 2015); and (with Okwui Enwezor), Contemporary African Art Since 1980 (Damiani, 2010). He is coeditor of Ezumeezu: Essays on Contemporary Art and Architecture, a festschrift in Honour of Demas Nwoko (Goldline & Jacobs, 2012); and Who Knows Tomorrow (König, 2010) In 2006, he edited the first ever issue of African Arts dedicated to African Modernism, and his writings have appeared in African Arts, Meridians: Feminism, Race, Internationalism, Artforum International, New York Times, Packett, South Atlantic Quarterly, October. He is co-editor of Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art and maintains the blog Ọfọdunka.

Okeke-Agulu serves on the board of directors of College Art Association, the advisory board of the Center for the Study of Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, the executive board of Princeton in Africa, and editorial boards of African Studies Review and Journal of Igbo Studies.

Thursday 20 February 2020
5-6:30pm
McCosh Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544

Click here for more info.

Image: Installation view, Hugh Hayden Creation Myths at Princeton University Art Museum, 2020 © Hugh Hayden