Cadence – Sprawling

Cadence – Sprawling represents one section of a monumental, 60-foot-tall multipaneled tapestry commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art in 2024. Here we see fungi, minerals, flowing water, and spreading roots that evoke the vital ecosystems hidden beneath the earth's surface. For Nkanga, this subterranean register is the foundation of a broader vision in which minerals, soil, atmosphere, and outer space are all part of a single, inseparable cadence of life. The tapestry is built in four layers of weave, making some stories visible and others hidden beneath the surface. Manually pulling and shifting the warp and weft of the machine-made textile to reveal what lies beneath, Nkanga employs a structure that mirrors the tapestry’s subject: multiple worlds, bound together, each one dependent on the others.

About the artist 

Otobong Nkanga  b. 1974, Kano, Nigeria

Otobong Nkanga is a sculptor and installation artist whose work explores our relationships to one another and the natural world. She carefully selects her materials with attention to their origin and how their extraction shapes the communities and landscapes. Born in Nigeria and raised between Lagos, Nigeria and Paris, France, Nkanga's work is shaped by a life lived across continents with close attention to how people and resources move between them.

Nkanga lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium.

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