Femi Themen is a British-Surinamese artist that draws from a politic of revolutionary love to negotiate processes of social, communal, and personal grief (ecological, racial, sexual). Practices of placemaking, the rumouring of language and epistemologies, and Afro-Diasporic storytelling ideals all play key roles in informing her living body of work. Femi primarily works sculpturally with influences of sound and image, examining theories of abstraction, and employing modes of labour that hold historical and cultural ties to her mixed heritage.
She received her Foundation Diploma in Arts and Design at Central Saint Martins with Distinction in 2022 and is currently a part of the undergraduate BA Fine Art program at the Slade School of Fine Art, with an exchange at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago.
Listening.
Collecting Dust Among Other Things, THE GARAGE, Logan Square, Chicago, curated by Bowie Reed, Oct 2024
Collectivist II, Deptford Market Yard, London, curated by Isaac Andrews, Mar 2024
The Grounds From Which We Grow, Addis Fine Art Gallery, Soho, London, Jan 2024
Papillon, Dalston Den, London, curated by Scarlett Pochet and Moriah Ogunbiyi, Dec 2023
Selected Positions
The Photographers’ Gallery, London W1F 7LW – Education Assistant, Nov 2023 to Feb 2024
The National Gallery, London WC2N 5DN – Guest Speaker, Oct 2023 and Feb 2024
Voice 21 Conference, Allen & Overy, London E1 6AD — Guest Speaker, March 2022
Heni Talks x ARTiculation – ARTiculation Alumnus Speaker, June 2021
MAOKWO and Coventry University – B.A.M. Working Group Member, Feb to Aug 2021