Fatimah Tuggar Uses Technology as Media

Born in Nigeria, raised in the U.K. and now living in Kansas City, Fatimah Tuggar is an artist and a citizen of the world.

“I grew up in more than one culture,” she says. “My parents thought the best way to give us cultural exposure was through traveling and studying aspects of places during our visits – like history, geography, civics and visiting museums.”

After studying as an undergrad at the Kansas City Art Institute, doing graduate work at Yale and Whitney Museum of American Art’s independent study Program in New York, she returned to the Art Institute to teach – and to work.

Now the Davis Museum at Wellesley College plans to present Fatimah Tuggar: Home’s Horizons, an exhibition of multimedia works in sculpture, photomontage, video, and augmented reality.

Her art is driven by technology. It’s her medium of choice – and her chosen metaphor for power dynamics. “In human relationships, there’s always the power part of human interactions, and with technology, it’s a matter of who has access and has control over whatever it is,” she says. “I use it in a really broad way – not just with computers.”

She says that her default is to see her idea-driven work, using the medium that serves it best. She’s refreshingly straightforward in how she communicates. “I have clarity of vision and I am not afraid of being direct in my work,” she says. “I try to be as literal as I can to get my ideas across – and do it in a poetic way.”

That serves her audience well. “In general I make my work so it’s understandable to anybody – it’s very direct and accessible,” she says. “It’s an honest exchange of ideas and very direct – it’s not just for artists or curators or writer, but something the general public can respond to.”

Curated by Amanda Gilvin, the Wellesley exhibit opens on Thursday, September 12, and runs through Sunday, December 15, 2019.

For more, go here.

[slideshow id=2076]