Monica Ikegwu is a Baltimore based artist. She is a figure painter with a focus directed

towards African American portraiture. With her work she aims to give people a platform to

display themselves in the way that they truly are without any limitations. She wants people to be

seen and to create their own image of themselves. She presents her ideas of the figure in a way

that is not only captivating, but also unconventional in her use of color, the rendering of texture,

and compositional thinking. The ideas for her work stem from her surroundings, experiences,

and encounters with people. The figures presented in her work are oftentimes her siblings and

family from whom she draws most of her inspiration from as she watches them progress through

life.

She is a recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation grant (2020), has been

awarded as a first place winner in the AXAArt prize (2018), a YoungArts Finalist (2017), a Gold

medal winner in the NAACP ACT-SO National competition (2016), and as a Scholastic silver

medal portfolio winner (2016). Her work was recently displayed and exhibited at CFHILL in

Stockholm, Sweden for the Black Voices - Black Microcosm show.

She earned her BFA in painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art’s undergraduate

program. She is currently enrolled at the New York Academy of Art, where she continues her

MFA studies in painting.

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