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