Njideka Akunyili Crosby was born in Enugu, Nigeria.  Crosby holds an MFA from Yale University School of Fine Art in New Haven, Connecticut (2006); a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate from Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2006); and a BA (Honours) from Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania (2004).

Currently working in Los Angeles, California, Crosby’s focus on works on paper combine collage, drawing, painting, printmaking, and photo transfers, negotiating the cultural landscape between her assumed home in America and her native home in Nigeria. Through her practice, Crosby creates works that expose the challenges of occupying these two worlds.

Over the course of her career, Crosby has created a cultured visual language that pays respect to the history of Western painting while also referencing African cultural traditions. Her artworks depict personal imagery that surpasses the specificity of individual experience and engages in a global discourse about pressing social and political issues.

Recent solo exhibitions include Njideka Akunyili Crosby: Portals  at Victoria Miro (London, United Kingdom: 2016); I Refuse to be Invisible, organised by Cheryl Brutvan at Norton Museum of Art (West Palm Beach, Florida, United States of America: 2016); Before Now After (Mama, Mummy, Mamma)  at 95 Horatio Street for The Whitney Museum of American Art Billboard Project (New York, United States of America: 2016).

Recent group exhibitions include Taking Pictures: Camera Phone Conversations Between Artists  at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, United States of America: 2017); the Future Generation Art Prize at Venice: 2017, Collateral Event, Palazzo Papadopoli (Venice, Italy: 2017); Regarding the Figure  at Studio Museum (Harlem, New York, United States of America: 2017); and POWER  at Sprüth Magers (Los Angeles, California, United States of America: 2017).