Dawn Okoro (born 1980 in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

), is a Nigerian American artist who paints

figurative art Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork (particularly paintings and sculptures) that is clearly derived from real object sources and so is, by definition, representational. The term is often in contrast to abstract a ...

works, as well as practices photography and videography, all inspired by fashion and

popular culture Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of cultural practice, practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art

f. pop art F is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet. F may also refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * F or f, the number 15 (number), 15 in hexadecimal and higher positional systems * ''p'F'q'', the hypergeometric function * F-distributi ...

or mass art, sometimes contraste ...

. She graduated from

University of Texas-Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

in 2002 with a B.A. in Psychology and Fashion Design and graduated with a law degree from the

Thurgood Marshall School of Law The Thurgood Marshall School of Law (TMSL) is the ABA-accredited law school of Texas Southern University, a historically Black public university in Houston, Texas. It awards Juris Doctor and Master of Law degrees. Thurgood Marshall School of L ...

Texas Southern University Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically Black university in Houston. The university is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund an ...

in 2009. Okoro currently lives and works in Austin, Texas, but her work has been exhibited throughout the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and internationally, and has also been commissioned by celebrities.

Biography

Born to an American mother and a Nigerian father from the

Igbo Igbo may refer to: * Igbo people, an ethnic group of Nigeria * Igbo language, their language * anything related to Igboland, a cultural region in Nigeria See also * Ibo (disambiguation) * Igbo mythology * Igbo music * Igbo art * * Igbo-Ukwu, a t ...

tribe, Okoro was raised in

Lubbock Lubbock ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Lubbock County. With a population of 272,086 in 2024, Lubbock is the 10th-most populous city in Texas and the 84th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the ...

. Okoro has participated in both solo and group exhibitions throughout her career. In 2008, Dawn's art works headlined Visual Collaborative's Miami exhibition. In June 2019, she returned as a feature on the platform, under the ''Voyager'' series for humanities, she was interviewed alongside 25 people from around the world such as;

Seun Kuti Oluseun Anikulapo Kuti (born 11 January 1983), popularly known Seun Kuti, is a Nigerian musician, singer and the youngest son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti. Seun leads his father's former band Egypt 80. Early life and education The youngest ...

, Berla Mundi and Aya Chebbi. Since 2012, Dawn Okoro has split her time as both an artist and digital producer at

Spectrum News Austin Spectrum News 1 Austin (formerly Spectrum News Austin, Time Warner Cable News Austin, YNN Austin, and News 8 Austin) is an American United States cable news, cable news television channel owned by Charter Communications. The channel provides 24 ...

. In 2018, Okoro's solo exhibition "Punk noir" was held at the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center. The exhibition featured life-size paintings of local artists and creatives and explored "black personal style as a punk ethos." In 2019, Okoro was one of five artists featured in the 'Fruits of Naij' exhibition at Okay Space in Brooklyn. The show celebrated the endeavors of Nigerian artists raising awareness about the conditions of internally displaced persons in Nigeria.

References

External links

Dawn Okoro
Additional information about Dawn Okoro, including art works, and articles. 1980 births Living people Igbo painters 21st-century American women painters 21st-century American painters American artists of Nigerian descent Painters from Texas Artists from Houston University of Texas at Austin alumni Thurgood Marshall School of Law alumni {{US-painter-1980s-stub