Artist Biography

Okiemute Shishe is a Nigerian-German contemporary visual artist whose work radiates color, culture, and connection. Born in Warri, Nigeria, in 1976 to a Nigerian Urhobo father, Chief Samuel Bokina Shishe, and German artist mother, Frigga Shishe, she grew up immersed in a world where creativity, tradition, and cross-cultural identity intertwined. Her formative years spanned three continents…Africa, Europe, and America…each shaping her worldview and the deeply personal themes that define her art.

Her artistic journey began in 2020, born out of grief after the passing of her father. Encouraged by her mother to paint as a means of healing, Okiemute found a new way of seeing and expressing life…one that wove together memory, emotion, and heritage. Her first painting, Love Under the Coconut Tree, was inspired by a cherished memory of sitting with her father under his favorite tree in his hometown of Agbarho. What began as an intimate act of healing soon blossomed into a lifelong commitment to storytelling through art.

Okiemute’s signature style…vibrant, layered, and luminous with glitter…embodies joy, resilience, and belonging. Her use of color captures life’s dualities, while glitter reflects the unpredictable ways light and growth reveal themselves over time. Through her work, she explores the evolving themes of individuality, family, and community, using her art as both a mirror and a bridge between worlds.

She debuted as an emerging artist in 2022 with her first exhibition at The Brick at Blue Star Gallery in San Antonio, Texas. The show marked the beginning of a profound artistic journey, as she began to explore and understand the power of art to connect personal experience with cultural narrative.

In November 2022, after three decades abroad, Okiemute returned home to Nigeria…a profound homecoming that became both a spiritual awakening and an answer to the ancestral call of her birth name, “Okiemute,” meaning “God’s Time is Best” in Urhobo. The name carries the wisdom of her father and embodies her belief in divine timing…a philosophy that continues to guide her art, her purpose, and her becoming.

Okiemute draws deep inspiration from her mother, who is an accomplished artist, Frigga Shishe. The interplay between her parents’ philosophies…her father’s teachings on patience and timing, and her mother’s fearless embrace of creativity…forms the spiritual core of Okiemute’s practice.

Now based in Lagos, she continues to create work that celebrates identity, spirituality, and shared human experiences. Her recent series, Blooming Beauties and Family, delve into the sacred relationships between individuality and togetherness, weaving visual narratives that honor love’s endurance, the grace of patience, and the beauty of transformation.

In 2024, she participated in Nigeria’s National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST), further expanding her artistic footprint within the country’s growing creative landscape. Her works are now held in both national and international private collections.

Through her art, she invites audiences to celebrate the beauty of life, to honor their stories, and to trust in their own divine timing…a timeless reminder that through the lives we live and the stories we tell, we are all Becoming Ancestors.

CV
Born: 1976, Warri, Nigeria
Resides and works: Lagos, Nigeria

Selected Exhibitions and Festivals

Family Story, Brick at Blue Star Gallery, Texas, USA, 2022
Nigeria’s National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST), 2024

Collections

Featured in national and international private collections

Press / Publications

Colors, Culture, and Creativity: Okiemute Shishe’s Artistic Journey, Guardian Life, 2024