TRANSMISSION ART ARCHIVE

Rena Anakwe

Rena Anakwe is an interdisciplinary artist, performer, poet, and healer working primarily with sound, visuals, and scent. Exploring intersections between traditional healing practices, spirituality, and performance, she creates works focused on sensory-based, experiential interactions using creative technology. She is based in Brooklyn, New York by way of Nigeria and Canada. Anakwe is a graduate of the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (MPS), The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University (MFA), and New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business (BS.) Most recently, she was awarded with a 2022 Art Matters Artist2Artist Fellowship, a 2021-2022 MacDowell Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Arts, a 2022 Jack Nusbaum Artist Residency at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) and the 2021 Canadian Women Artists’ Award from NYFA & the CWC (Canadian Women’s Club) of New York. Anakwe was a 2020-2021 resident of the Jerome Foundation AIRspace Residency for Performing Artists at Abrons Arts Center, a 2020 Radiophrenia commissioned artist, a 2019 Issue Project Room Artist-in-Residence, a 2019 Abrons Arts Center (AAC) Sound Series commissioned artist among many other honors and engagements. Under the moniker "A Space for Sound," Anakwe released the first in an ongoing audio series titled Sound Bath Mixtape vol. 1 in Summer 2020, through New York City-based label and collective PTP. In Fall 2021, her album Sometimes underwater (feels like home) was released through RVNG Intl's Commend THERE Label.