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Adebunmi Gbadebo

@adebooms

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Keepin it nappy!
Artist in the 61st La Biennale di Venezia curated by @madamekoyo
Revelations at the @nmaahc
Inquiry’s: [email protected]

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Coming up: Clay Workshop with artist Adebunmi Gbadebo, September 19! ◽️ Join artist Adebunmi Gbadebo (@adebooms) whose work is on view in the exhibition “Clay Has Memory: Creative Lineages from Africa,” in the Museum’s Creativity Labs for a hands-on workshop! Gbadebo will share her process of creating artworks out of soil she collects, and participants will then have the opportunity to explore the early stages of making ceramics and form small pinch pots to take home, along with raw clay to continue exploring the material on their own.

🔗 Registration required. Tap to our events calendar to learn more & register.

Video directed by Sosena Solomon (@sosena) and edited by Lucas Groth (@lucasedits) taken in Princeton University Art Museum by @adebooms

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a month ago

Hear about my installation at the Venice Biennale curated my Koyo Kouoh

• @labiennale #BiennaleArte2026 | #InMinorKeys: Giardini
“Gli alberi in ceramica di Adebunmi Gbadebo, realizzati a spirale, si ispirano ai pini taeda, alcuni degli alberi più alti conosciuti sulla Terra, sotto i quali gli schiavi di questa regione seppellivano i loro cari. L’artista e i suoi parenti si recano spesso nella foresta alla ricerca degli alberi più vecchi, con l’obiettivo di recuperare le lapidi che sono state nascoste di proposito o perse nelle paludi. Così facendo, radicano nuovamente la memoria in luoghi segnati dalla mancanza di libertà. Gbadebo intitola i suoi vasi di argilla in base alle iscrizioni sulle lapidi, definendoli come contenitori di informazioni materiali e sacre.”

Visita la 61. Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte a Venezia fino al 22 novembre!
Scopri di più e acquista il biglietto → www.labiennale.org - link in bio

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“@adebooms’s coil-built ceramic trees recall loblolly pines – some of the tallest known trees on Earth, under which enslaved people in this region buried their loved ones. The artist and her relatives often go to the forest to identify the oldest trees, so as to recover headstones that were either purposefully hidden there or lost to the swamps. In doing so, they re-root memory in places marked by unfreedom. Gbadebo titles her clay vessels after the inscriptions on the headstones, marking them as containers holding material and sacred information.”

Visit the 61st International Art Exhibition in Venice until November 22!
Find out more and buy your tickets → www.labiennale.org - link in bio

#LaBiennaleDiVenezia #BiennaleArte
📹 @c3tecnologie by @adebooms

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15 days ago

I spent the past week with my family celebrating two of my works which opened and were included in the exhibition “Revelations: A Journey into Abstraction,” at our nation’s Smithsonian National Museum ofAfrican American History and Culture aka @nmaahc. To say this is an honor is an understatement. I know my mom would be so proud (and probably made it happened). I’m thankful for so many loved ones who joined me this week to celebrate! Thank you to @scottieblueskye and @sharondairving for hosting me and being a. Home away from home. I grateful to all of the curators @j.dees2 and staff who made this important exhibition possible or who have acquired my work over the years. So many of my art hero’s including Dave Drake who I spoke about in the exhibition catalog have paved the way and it’s an honor to be sharing space. In a time when our voices are being diminished and silenced I’m proud to be in an institution and in an exhibition that celebrates the breath of who we be!

I hope you visit the show!

#nmaahc taken in Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture by @adebooms

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4 months ago

I’m excited to announce that the short film WATCH OUT FOR THE GHOSTS directed by @yvonnemichelleshirley will have its film festival world premiere at the 2026 BlackStar Film Festival (@blackstarfest) on opening day Thursday August 6th, at 1pm at the Suzanne Roberts theatre.

A personal meditation on loss, family, home and reclamation through the artistic process of Adebunmi Gbadebo. Gbadebo creates works out of organic materials from the South Carolina plantation cemeteries where her formerly enslaved ancestors and their descendants are buried.

This film marks the beginning of filmmaker Yvonne Michelle Shirley and artist Adebunmi Gbadebo’s ongoing collaboration exploring land as archive and historical restoration by @adebooms

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2 months ago

I’m excited to announce that the short film WATCH OUT FOR THE GHOSTS, directed by @yvonnemichelleshirley will have its film festival world premiere at the 2026 BlackStar Film Festival (@blackstarfest) on opening day Thursday August 6th, at 1pm at the Suzanne Roberts theatre.

A personal meditation on loss, family, home and reclamation through the artistic process of Adebunmi Gbadebo. Gbadebo creates works out of organic materials from the South Carolina plantation cemeteries where her formerly enslaved ancestors and their descendants are buried.

This film marks the beginning of filmmaker Yvonne Michelle Shirley and artist Adebunmi Gbadebo’s ongoing collaboration exploring land as archive and historical restoration.

To purchase tickets for our screening please visit @blackstarfest website or click link in story

@blackstarfest: We are excited to share with you the official film line-up for the 15th annual BlackStar Film Festival! The films in this year’s program speak to collective resistance as they take us around the world from Haiti to Cuba to South Africa and Palestine. The program includes 22 World premieres, 10 North America premieres, 4 United States premieres, 13 East Coast premieres, and 34 Philadelphia premieres. Swipe for a full list of the titles and stay tuned over the next few weeks as we share more about these special films.⁠
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Join us this August 6-9 in Philadelphia or online around the world for this milestone festival. All access or virtual pass available at the link in our bio. ⁠
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#BSFF26 #CinemaForLiberation

Films in our categories: by @adebooms

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2 months ago

Saturday, August 1: artist Adebunmi Gbadebo (@adebooms) whose work is on view in our new exhibition, "Clay Has Memory: Creative Lineages from Africa," joins us at the Museum for an artist talk as part of the Museum's Summer Celebration! Hear from Gbadebo in Tuttle Lecture Hall from 3:30–4:30 p.m., then visit the exhibition to see her work in person. This event is free and open to the public; no tickets or registration required!

To learn more about the Summer Celebration, tap to the Events link in our bio. Find information about "Clay Has Memory: Creative Lineages from Africa," by tapping to the Exhibitions link.

ℹ️ Adebunmi Gbadebo, "William Ravenell," 2025. Princeton University Art Museum. Museum purchase, Mary Trumbull Adams Art Fund. © Adebunmi Gbadebo. Courtesy of the artist and Nicola Vassell Gallery. taken in Princeton University Art Museum by @adebooms

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2 months ago

“Abstraction has long been a powerful tool for African American artists to express memory, resistance and imagination beyond constraint,” says Shanita Brackett, acting director of the National Museum of African American History (@nmaahc).

Now on view, works by Adebunmi Gbadebo (@adebooms) are featured in “Revelation: A Journey into Abstraction,” an exhibition exploring the profound range and depth created by Black artists who have contributed to the rich fabric of abstraction, from the mid‑20th century to the present.

📸: Dontez Henderson, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of African American History and Culture

#AdebunmiGbadebo #NMAAHC taken in Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture by @adebooms

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3 months ago

For the Biennale Arte 2026 @labiennale by Koyo Kouoh, Adebunmi Gbadebo (@adebooms) presents an immersive installation rooted in material memory and ancestral resilience. The work honors her ancestor, John Ricem Ravenell, who self-liberated in 1834 from enslavement in the American South to seek refuge in the South Carolina swamplands.

Through ceramic forms and dyed handmade paper, Gbadebo evokes these landscapes of protection. These were spaces where autonomy and cultural practices were sustained against the backdrop of the True Blue Plantation. Her presentation stands as a powerful testament to the generative worlds forged in the pursuit of freedom.

📸: @kemi70 @matteo_losurdo

#BiennaleArte2026 #InMinorKeys taken in La Biennale di Venezia by @adebooms

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4 months ago

I had to take a couple of days to process this experience of being a part of this year's Venice Biennale (@labiennale) curated by Koyo Kouoh (@madamekoyo). I asked my AMAZING La Biennale liaison Luigi (@luigiricciari) who has been with La Biennale since 1994 and has done 26 Biennales, “what made this year's biennale different from the others?” Luigi said, It was the way the artists created community with each other. The way the artists spent time with each other, hanging out, and supported each other. I never seen the artist come together like we did.

I was not blessed and fortunate enough to have known Koyo in this realm but through stories from people who loved and knew her most this theme of community and relationship building seemed to be a recurring theme that was paramount to how Koyo moved. Although Koyo was not physically there to see this year's Biennale through, I believe her spirit of community, solidarity, relationship building, and friendship became the guiding principle that defined us all. I bow my head to the curatorial team who carried this ethos the most. The way you all carried Koyo’s vision was a true example of ancestral work. The team: @rashasalti @gabefeijoo @westvirginiababy @neneperei @siddharthamitter! Thank you for the way you led and supported us all! @luigiricciari you should get the Golden lion for the way you support so many of us with such grace and joy! My family and I thank you! The installers, organizers, everyone thank you! This could not have been possible without all of you.

And the artists, an art education could not have taught me the lessons I have learned by just witnessing and fellowshipping with you all. I am forever grateful and changed because of this experience! Love you all! Thank you Koyo who was with us from another realm and showed us how to be a harmonious island of Minor Keys! 💙

📷 Photos of work by @matteo_losurdo taken in La Biennale, Venice by @adebooms

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5 months ago

In speaking of her work, artist Adebunmi Gbadebo often underscores the good fortune she feels to be working with the very soil that once held her enslaved forebears, and which enslaved artisans were forced to cultivate: “This land that I now have in my hands and me being a descendent from this soil, the fact that I could shape it and form it and do whatever I want, it is like the ultimate privilege.”

Recently acquired by the BCMA, "Ellis Sanders" (2025) is a striking example of Gbadebo’s rich conceptual practice. Each of Gbadebo’s sculptures is named for an ancestor, which the artist learned from researching the will of True Blue Plantation’s enslaver. Works such as "Ellis Sanders" assert themselves not only as art objects, but also as bodies occupying space, announcing their claim on both past and present.

Learn more in the "News" section of the link in bio or via bowdo.in/april-object

Image: Adebunmi Gbadebo, "Ellis Sanders," 2025, soil from True Blue Plantation, Carolina Gold Rice, human hair. Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine. Museum Purchase, Jane H. and Charles E. Parker, Jr. Art Acquisition Fund, 2026.4. © Adebunmi Gbadebo. Courtesy of the artist and Nicola Vassell Gallery. Photo by Lance Brewer.

#Bowdoin @adebooms @nicolavassellgallery An reddish ceramic vessel atop a blue pedestal by @adebooms

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Highpoint Editions is honored to release Periwinkle, a new print by artist Adebunmi Gbadebo. This new print combining cyanotype, screenprint, and lithograph pushes the materiality of contemporary print by incorporating hand gathered soil and raw indigo to create an image where land, memory, and material speak together.

Click the link in our bio to learn more about the process and inquire for availability.

Adebunmi Gbadebo
Periwinkle, 2026
Cyanotype, screenprint with handmade inks, lithograph, and collage
Edition of 20
29.5 x 44.5 inches unframed
$4,200

This print will be on display at the IFPDA Print Fair in New York from April 9-12!

Price subject to change as impressions sell taken in Highpoint Editions by @adebooms

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6 months ago

Pure joy and beauty to close out Women’s History Month at home in Detroit with some of my Beloved Sister-Artist-Friends and guests. Thank you @adebooms for trusting me with holding part of your story and presence here, and for the space to expand our friendship in spirit and practice.

Im so excited about our journey in May to celebrate you and our comrades and interlocutors at the @venice.art.biennale (thank you @madamekoyo)

#BlackWomen #womenshistorymonth taken in Detroit, Michigan by @adebooms

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6 months ago