Bio

jamilah malika abu-bakare (b. 1982, Benin City, Nigeria) received her  MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA in 2019.

abu-bakare's works contemplate refusal, repetition, dedication, and intimacy through sound art, video essay, text off-page and installation. by considering sound over sight, the artist moves both her subject and the audience towards freedom. 

EDUCATION

2019 Masters of Fine Arts in Writing, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA


2006 Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Political Science, York University, Toronto, ON,Canada


TEACHING EXPERIENCE

2023 - 2025 Instructor of Professional Practice, Africana Studies, School of Arts & Sciences - Newark, RutgersUniversity

2023 - 2025 Instructor, Community Media Center, Express Newark

2012 - 2017 Instructor & Facilitator, New Leaf Foundation

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025   Carroussa Sonore, Fridman Gallery, NewYork City, New York, USA

2025   Carroussa Sonore, Express Newark, Newark, New Jersey, USA

2025   alineage of transgression, Artspeak Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada

2023  The Politics of Sound, Galt Museum and Archives, Lethbridge, AB, Canada

2022  The Politics of Sound, Two Rivers Gallery, Prince George, BC,Canada

2021  Calling Planet Earth, Espace Pop!, Montreal, QC, Canada

2020  Ontology vs The Ontic, NOW Instant, LA, USA

2020  a lineage of transgression, Artscape PTBO, Peterborough, ON, Canada

2020  The Other Side of the Sun, Hashtag Gallery, Toronto, ON, Canada


2020  interlude, Art Gallery of Burlington, Burlington, ON, Canada


2019  The Break, The Wake, The Hold, The Breath, Circuit Gallery, Toronto, ON

2018  SSSSHHHH#2, Flaxman Library Special Collections, Chicago, IL,USA

2018  Critical Mass, Art Gallery of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada


2018  Tone, FIELD ContemporaryGallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada


RESIDENCIES & FELLOWSHIPS

2025  Fellow, Voices for Health Justice, Trenton, NJ, USA

2020  Fellow, SpokenWeb, Montreal, QC, Canada

2019     Artist-in-residence, NIA, Toronto, ON,Canada

2019     Artist-in-residence, Feminist ArtistCollective, Toronto, Canada

LECTURES & SYMPOSIA

2024   Lecturer. Black sound (art), YorkUniversity, Toronto, ON, Canada
2023   Lecturer. Black sound (art), YorkUniversity, Toronto, ON, Canada
2023   Panelist. Black Power Naps Conversation, MoMA, New York City, NY, USA
2022   Presenter. The Politics of Sound, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON, Canada

2022  Lecturer. sound as freedom, YorkUniversity, Toronto, ON, Canada
2021  Lecturer. sound as freedom,Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver, BC, Canada

2020  Presenter.“Fugitivity” et l’art”, African Group for Critical Action and Study, St. Louis,Sénégal

2020  Panelist. Language under pressure: A Symposium, Peterborough, ON Canada

WRITING & PUBLICATIONS

2025   Fugitive Sound: Sound as Refusal, Sound asRefuge, The Arts of Black Activism: BlackCultural Politics In Northern Turtle Island 2020-present, University of Regina Press, Print.

2025   Persistent Objects; an interview with Soledad Fatima Muñoz, Studio Magazine, Fall/Winter 2025. Print

2023   re-creation, LampBlack Lit: Volume 3. Print.

2023   o.b.a, Maa Ka Maaya Ka Ca AYere Kono – 13ème Édition des Rencontres de Bamako Biennale Africaine de la Photographie, Archive Books. Print.

2022   How Black artists use citational art to build upon one another's legacies, CBC Arts.Web.

2021   Listening Feels, Canadian Art Magazine, Spring 2021. Print.

RADIO & INTERVIEWS

2023   Interview.JAMILAH MALIKA ABU- BAKARE. Episode 4. A Kind of Harmony.

2022   Featured Artist. EARS HAVE EYES: spatial conjuring and ear specific art for the radio, Episode 1. The Hibernation Project.

2022   Interview. On “Aural Alterities”: An interview with jamilah malika abu-bakare. Episode74. Constellations.

2022   Interview. Speech Sounds: Our Aesthetics, Celebrating Black Sounds. Episode 4. Hush Harbour.

2020   Interview. Talking about Talking. Season 2, Episode 8. SpokenWeb Podcast.

2019   Interview. Write How You Talk. Episode 10. Contemporaries Podcast.

2018   Interview. Jamilah Malika & Felicia Mings. Episode 9. Black Lives Rooted.

2018   Featured Artist. The DiamondStingily Show. Radio roadcast.

COLLECTIONS

Two Rivers Gallery

 LANGUAGES

English, French,Spanish


Using Format