Adiwu Talatu Onkala who is described as a prolific painter from the Zaria Art School was born December 7, 1982 in Kwajjaffa in Borno State of Nigeria. She is an indigene of Plateau State, where she attended and obtained her primary and post-primary education certificates from 1990 – 2001. She has earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree (B.A) in Fine Arts (2006), Master of Fine Art Degree in (2010), a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (2012) from the National Teachers Institute, Kaduna-Nigeria and has also successfully completed her Doctoral studies where she was awarded a PhD in Painting from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in October 2015, with this, Talatu is the first female Doctorate holder in the studio area produced by Zaria Art School. She has participated in several group exhibitions such as the Nigeria / Roots Contemporary Artists from Nigeria, Imago Mundi Luciano Benetton collection Workshop and Exhibition, Lagos Nigeria, ARESUVA, 2009, Shades of Unity: Women make it Happen, An Exhibition of Female Artists Association of Nigeria (FAAN), Abuja Nigeria as well as the “Openspace”: An Exhibition of African Patrons Cups Polo Tournament, Ilmihouse, Fifth Chukker Polo and Country Club, Kaduna, Nigeria. She has attended and participated in workshops within the country such asScapes and Forms Workshop: Exploratory Materiality” in 2014 and many other on curriculum implementation. As a painter, she is quite rich in ideas and techniques inherited from artists of the previous decades.

The artists’ constant urge to explore the two dimensional surface, using novel subject matter, has guided her to her current experimentation in painting using the forms found in nature. Through her training and researches, she has acquired skills and knowledge in painting. Her works declare her position concerning the forms of expression and also visually communicate her personal ideas towards understanding art. Talatu through her body of works and publications has established a landmark within the Nigerian painting scene by departing away from the reoccurring mode of creative and realistic interpretation of natural forms to that of abstract or semi-naturalistic representations of nature. She is also concerned through her paintings, with creating a platform for young female artists and academics to follow in their dreams of achieving across disciplines such as, textile design, ceramics and sculpture. She aspires to continue making aesthetic statements using natural forms aligned to post-modernist ideologies in modern Nigerian painting. Adiwu Talatu Onkala is currently an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, Faculty of Arts, University of Maiduguri-Nigeria where she is steadily rising up the ranks.

PUBLICATIONS

Last Modified: Mon, 14 Aug 2017 11:29:50 SAST