Abbéy Odunlami
Photo: Abbéy Odunlami
Abbéy Odunlami Ph.D. (b. Abeokuta, Ogun State '82) is a Yoruba-Nigerian-American researcher, theorist, and educator/curator whose work investigates contemporary urban history and visual culture(s). His interdisciplinary practice challenges assumptions of history, culture, race, and conventions of display. Odunlami has worked with institutions such as the Sundance Film Festival, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, and the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin. He lectures on urbanism and critical theory in the Contemporary Practices & Photography Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Praxis Statement
As a scholar working in cultural analysis and visual and critical studies, my research centers on the intersections of design, art, culture, and technology as conduits of engagement within the public-sphere, complex urban environments, and sociocultural institutions.
Research Interests
History of the use of technology in youth-led urbanism on the African Continent, reading the history & contemporary effects of European expansion and colonialization through food systems and cuisine, Soviet-African cultural production & national identity building, the paradox within artistic production and its entangled power dynamics, hierarchical structures of consumption, Postcolonial Globality and the African Diaspora.