Zohra Opoku

Zohra Opoku’s (b. 1976, Altdöbern, former GDR/ East Germany; lives and works in Accra, Ghana) multidisciplinary practice is grounded in her personal history and cultural heritage. Born and raised in East Germany and later relocating to Ghana to reconnect with her ancestral roots, Opoku explores the complex intersections of identity and memory. Her work navigates the space between these experiences, bridging cultures, geographies, and time. 

Opoku’s practice often begins with photography and evolves through a tactile process of deconstruction and reconstruction. Photographic images are screen-printed onto pre-dyed natural fabrics and subsequently transformed through hand-stitched embroidery and collage. These techniques, rooted in both traditional craftsmanship and experimental composition, form the foundation of richly layered textile works, installations, and sculptures. 

Personal identity and its complex nuances are a central concern in her work. Drawing from her own life and body, Opoku reflects on themes of belonging, memory, and representation. She often integrates family heirlooms, personal symbols, and elements from Ghana’s visual culture, such as references to West African brass-making traditions. The result is a body of work that is both cathartic and resonant, anchored in lived experience yet capable of speaking to broader questions shared across the African diaspora and beyond. 

“The transition from being based in Germany to being in Ghana and bringing those two worlds together in a conversation—whether through material, handcraft, or memory—is important,” she has said. “It allows others to relate to the work, especially within the diaspora, where people have similar experiences.” Through this lens, Opoku’s practice becomes a form of visual storytelling—an evolving archive of identity that is intimate, textured, and quietly powerful. 

The work of Zohra Opoku has been exhibited internationally, including in the 15th edition of Sharjah Biennale (United Arab Emirates, 2023); at the 14th edition of the Dak’art Biennial (Senegal, 2022) and at 7th Athens Biennale (Greece, 2021). 

Institutionally, her work has been presented at the Louvre Abu Dhabi (UAE, 2024-2025), The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Minneapolis, 2025), the Brooklyn Museum (New York, 2024), The Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, 2018), RAW Material Company (Dakar, 2024), High Museum of Art (Atlanta, 2024), Palais Populaire (Berlin, 2024), Wereld Museum (Rotterdam, 2024), Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg (Wolfsburg, 2022), SAVVY Contemporary (Berlin, 2022), TATE Modern (London, 2022), Southbank Centre / Hayward Gallery (London, 2020), Kunsthaus Hamburg (Hamburg, 2020), Archeological Museum of Mykonos (2019), National Museum (Nairobi, 2017), Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao, 2015), Musée de l'Ethnographie (Bordeaux, 2013), CCA Lagos (2010), and Kunsthaus Hamburg (2010), among many others.  

Zohra Opoku’s major solo exhibition “We proceed in the footsteps of the sunlight" will be on view at Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town for a year, starting in September 2025. 

Her work is collected by renowned public institutions and private collections such as the the Centre Pompidou (Paris), CCS Bard College Hessel Museum of Art (Annandale-on-Hudson), Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles), Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art (Gainesville), The Faurschou Foundation (Copenhagen), The Royal Museum of Ontario (Toronto), Tate Modern (London), The Onassis Collection (Athens), Eskenazi Museum of Art, (Bloomington), The Cleveland Clinic Art Collection (Cleveland),  and The Dean Collection (New York).