Lola Ayisha Ogbara (she/her) is a Nigerian American conceptual artist and arts manager from Chicago, Illinois. She earned a BA from Columbia College Chicago and an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis. Her practice explores haptic (sub)conscious frameworks using the body form, as well as the absence of the body, to contemplate complexities of emotion, belonging, looking/seeing, labor, time, and space through clay, installations, and sonic experiments.
Ogbara has exhibited in art spaces across the country, including, The Luminary, Kavi Gupta, Kemper Museum, Mindy Solomon Gallery, and Kristen Lorello Gallery. She has also received residencies, fellowships, and awards from Alfred University, Arts + Public Life at the University of Chicago, the Coney Family Fund, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, and many other institutions.
Featured Artworks
A Hard Ori Makes a Soft Memory, 2022
Bronze, Alabama red clay soil, and stained birch wood
Image by Charles Benton
She Who Destroys, 2021
Image on lenticular print
Image by Lola Ayisha Ogbara
Double Dutch Queen, 2020
Iron, and Alabama red clay soil
Image by Kalaija Mallery
Brier Patch (Forget Me Knot, series), 2025
Ceramic stoneware with glaze, and black sand
Image by Robert Heisman
Bubblegum, Bubblegum + A Safe Space to Land, 2021/2022
Ceramic stoneware with acrylic varish, nylon, concrete, black tourmaline, and stained birch wood
Image by Kalaija Mallery
Blue Magic II, 2023
Ceramic stoneware with custom glaze
Image by Lola Ayisha Ogbara