Dozie Kanu

Dozie Kanu

Nigerian-American Dozie Kanu grew up in Houston, where the city’s so-called slab car culture came to shape his perspective on design. This culture, with its emphasis on individuality, customization, and expressive aesthetics, laid the foundation for his understanding of how material and form can express identity.

An artistic practice beyond traditional boundaries

Today, Kanu is based in Santarém, Portugal, where his work moves between sculpture, performance, and contemporary art. By transforming found objects and giving them new aesthetic expressions, he creates communicative and performative works that challenge established categories and traditional boundaries.

Dozie Kanu and Knoll

In collaboration with the brand Knoll, Dozie Kanu has created a furniture collection in which materials, form, and details interact harmoniously. His distinctive use of repurposed and industrially inspired elements gives the furniture a unique identity that balances the functional with the sculptural.

Exhibitions and artistic milestones

Dozie Kanu graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 2016 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and was awarded the Humblot Design Prize in 2018. His first museum exhibition was presented at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 2019. Since then, his work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Venice Biennale and the New Museum in New York. In 2022, he also completed the Maumaus Independent Study Program in Lisbon.