Focus Hawaii Nnamdi Okonkwo
Files
Download TRANSCRIPT_1994017_FocusHawaii_NnamdiOkonkwo_1994.pdf (68 KB)
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Description
Hosted by Lance Chase, this episode of Focus Hawaii spotlights Nnamdi Okonkwo — a Nigerian-born scholar, standout BYU–Hawaii basketball player, and emerging artist whose passion lies in sculpture and pastel work. Okonkwo shares his journey from growing up in Nigeria to coming to Hawaiʻi on a basketball scholarship, eventually discovering that sculpture was the medium that allowed him to fully express his inner world, reflecting on the influence of his mother’s artistic talent, the challenge of balancing athletics and the arts, overcoming language barriers through a love of reading, and the evolution of his artistic voice from drawing to painting and finally to sculpture. Through candid conversation, he describes the joy and heartbreak behind preparing his first one‑man show — from losing key pieces in the kiln to celebrating the support of friends who helped bring the exhibit to life — and discusses the distinctly African motifs in his work while emphasizing his desire to convey universal human emotions that transcend race or ethnicity. Okonkwo also compares the pressure and discipline of the basketball court with the vulnerability of exhibiting art, portraying both as spaces where belief in oneself is essential, and his reflections reveal the deep personal and spiritual investment behind each sculpture and how his life experiences, identity, and aspirations inevitably emerge in his work.
Length of Video
00:28:55
File Size
2.4GB
Archives Call Number
22.FH
Air Date
1994
Keywords
Lance Chase, Focus Hawaii, Nnamdi Okonkwo, Nigerian artist, BYU–Hawaii basketball, African sculpture, pastel art, one‑man art show, student artist Hawaii, BYUH athletics, universal human emotion art, African motifs in sculpture, immigrant artist story, creative process struggles, kiln accident sculpture, art exhibition preparation, basketball and art connection, identity in art, cross‑cultural creativity, Hawaii arts community, young sculptor profile.
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | Medicine and Health Sciences | Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Recommended Citation
Chase, Lance and Okonkwo, Nnamdi, "Focus Hawaii Nnamdi Okonkwo" (1994). Focus Hawaii. 69.
https://digitalcollections.byuh.edu/focushawaii/69