Navigation Menu
Image description: A bust length photograph of Nkeiruka against a solid white background. Her hair is close cropped and her hand is holding up an opi with an x on it covering one eye. She has on black lipstick, and gold and silver nose rings and earrings. She is wearing a black bra, and black and white graphic patterned sleeveless bra string top. Photo by Sasha Kelly
she/her/they/them
Huichin, unceded Lisjan Ohlone territory; Oakland, CA
Nkeiruka Oruche is an Igbo multimedia creative, cultural organizer, and producer focusing on Afro-Urban culture. Since 2002, she’s been part of a group of key players ushering Afro culture onto the global stage. This includes being the Editor-in-Chief of the digital magazine Nigerian Entertainment and co-founder of One3snapshot art collective. She is a co-founder of the social justice and music organization BoomShake, as well as founder and executive artistic director of Afro Urban Society, a hub for Pan African arts and culture.
In 2020, she co-produced Bakanal de Afrique, international Afro-Urban festival, and co-created Let Me Come & Be Going, a multimedia piece on transportation and Black city life.
Her work has been featured in BBC Africa, Goethe-Institut’s Archive of Forgetfulness, Fjord Review, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Oakland Museum of California, and Dance Mission Theater.
Nkeiruka’s immersion into dance began as a child from her ancestral hometown Amichi learning popular dance from her Aunt Obiageli. Living in Lagos, Abuja, the Bronx, Stone Mountain, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area inspired her love of diverse cultures. She has shared stages and created with Magic System, Les Twins, Elephant Man, Onyeka Owenu, Monica Hastings-Smith, Amara Tabor-Smith, Ellen Sebastian-Chang, Stern Grove Festival, Youth Speaks, Loco Bloco, and San Francisco’s Boys & Girls Clubs.
She is a Kikwetu Honors Awardee, a 2018 NYFA Immigrant Artist Fellow, YBCA 100 Honoree, and recipient of awards from Creative Work Fund, MAP Fund, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, California Arts Council, Zellerbach Family Foundation, East Bay Community Foundation, and Dancer’s Group / CA$H, among others.
Currently, Nkeiruka is working on Obi gbawara’m//My Heart Shattered or What happens after I die?, a cultural documentation and multimedia project exploring the art and performance of grief in Igbo traditions.
For more information about Nkeiruka Oruche:
