Chiedu Okonta (b. 1979, Nigeria; based in London) is a Nigerian-British multidisciplinary artist with a socially engaged practice spanning painting, sculpture, digital art and installation. A recipient of the Sir Frank Bowling Scholarship, he graduated from the MA Painting programme at the Royal College of Art in 2025. His practice integrates self-taught foundations with formal education, functioning as a tool to address systemic inequalities, combat unethical industrial practices, and bear witness to ecological and human rights crises — particularly those affecting the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
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About
Okonta sees his work as part of a contemporary movement that archives, reports, agitates and questions — through deliberate and objective positioning. His creations reflect a counter-hegemonic worldview that leverages the richness of his cultural heritage, inviting diverse audiences to reflect on their roles within the tapestry of humanity's shared experience. Conscious of the decreasing nature of contemporary attention, his practice is fashioned to captivate viewers and encourage prolonged contemplation. Born into a traditional middle-class Nigerian family, he initially trained as a civil engineer — earning his MSc from the University of East London — before the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a turning point that led him to pursue art full time.
His ongoing series A Tale of Heritage — which includes The Mariner's Astrolabe (2024) and The Untitled Saltcellar Allegory (2025) — explores the lingering impact of natural resource exploitation and the complex power dynamics surrounding independence and control, drawing on the historic trade between southern Nigeria and the Portuguese. Working across painting, 3D digital art and physical sculpture, the project adopts the visual language of the Benin bronzes as a counter-hegemonic framework, embedding gold, ivory and crude oil as symbolic materials. The series asks what it means to inherit a history of dispossession, and how art can reclaim that narrative.
His RCA graduate work Focus Alat! (FUBU — For Us By Us) (2025) considers the endless relationship a geographical region has with extractivism. A large-scale painting in acrylic, oil, gel and ink, it is a call for self-dependency, survival and collective rebuilding — a counter-hegemonic vision of the Niger Delta not as a site of exploitation but as a place of rest, renewal and regeneration. The work was sold from the RCA Graduate Show in June 2025 and was highlighted by Blowout Magazine as one of the standout works of the RCA Degree Show 2025.
Exploitation's Tattoo (2025) expands his focus from ancestral heritage to a global critique — conversing with Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi to present a contemporary view in which even prayers for hope are exploited. Throughout his practice, Okonta deploys symbolic colour, material and form with precision — gold for the commercial lingo attributed to natural resources extracted from the Niger Delta over centuries; amorphous black for the carbon soot that has settled over the region due to oil flaring; blue for the psychological depths of humanity's shared crisis.
Education
- Royal College of Art, MA Painting — Sir Frank Bowling Scholar, 2024 – 2025 (London, UK)
- Royal College of Art, Graduate Diploma, 2023 – 2024 (London, UK)
- University of East London, MSc Civil Engineering (London, UK)
Select Exhibitions
- Between Worlds, MeSo Ventures at The Hilight, Battersea, 2025 (London, UK)
- RCA Graduate Show, Royal College of Art, June 2025 (London, UK)
- AcrossRCA 2025, Royal College of Art (London, UK)
- Visual Art Open Finalists Exhibition, 2025 (London, UK)
- RCA x HSBC — Across & Over, Royal College of Art, 2024 (London, UK)
- Works exhibited in London, Amsterdam and Zurich
Awards & Scholarships
- Visual Art Open 2025 — Winner, Painting, Mixed Media & Printmaking Category
- Sir Frank Bowling Scholarship, MA Painting, Royal College of Art, 2025