“In Nneka Kai’s work, hair becomes a method, a line, a tool, and a thread to mend, bind, and weave an embodied experience of Black identity, thought, and material culture through languages of performance and abstraction.” – Rory Padeken, Vicki and Kent Logan Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Denver Art Museum.

Nneka Kai is an interdisciplinary artist from Atlanta, GA. She received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from the Fiber & Material Studies Department and her BFA in Textiles from Georgia State University. Her work and research explore the material and conceptual language of Black hair.

Nneka Kai’s interdisciplinary practice begins with the question, “What is the free Black feminine form?” By employing natural and synthetic hair, Kai uses textile, performance, and sculpture to expand and question the notions of history, site, and identity.