Nanci Amaka is an interdisciplinary artist exploring ideas surrounding trauma, ancestry, memory and West African animism. Working from the theory that traumatic events challenge perceptions of power, autonomy, and identity; her work explores the liminal space between these experiences and language. Nanci received a BFA/BA in Visual Critical Studies from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and an MFA from California College of the Arts. Her work has been exhibited at International Center for Photography, New York, NY;  San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; Honolulu Museum of Art’s Doris Duke Theatre, Honolulu, HI; Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, Santa Cruz, CA; Hawai‘i State Art Museum x Mori, Honolulu, HI; Honolulu Museum of Art School, Honolulu, HI; Bermudez Projects NELA Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Root Division, San Francisco, CA; and most recently, Above The Equator Gallery, Hilo, HI.

Amaka was born in Nigeria and spent her formative years in a rural rainforest village in south eastern Nigeria. She now lives and works in Honolulu, Hawai‘i.