Frida Orupabo

Frida Orupabo’s works are grounded in found photographs and material sourced from both digital and physical archives, encompassing popular culture as well as references dating back to the colonial era. In Orupabo’s hands, these materials are recomposed into collages that rewrite and challenge dominant historical narratives. Through her collages, Orupabo simultaneously creates new meanings and stories, giving space to figures who have previously been rendered invisible.

Frida Orupabo’s artistic practice is shaped in part by her upbringing in Norway as the child of a Norwegian mother and a Nigerian father, growing up in an environment where she stood out. Through her works, she processes experiences of gazes, identity, race, belonging, and power—and directs the gaze back at the viewer. It is an encounter that can feel both physical and emotional as we are confronted with the figures’ intense stares, which carry discomfort, strength, and vulnerability all at once.

Frida Orupabo (b. 1986) lives and works in Oslo, Norway. She originally trained as a sociologist, but in 2013 she began creating digital collages, which she shared on the social media platform Instagram as a kind of digital diary and archive.

Orupabo's solo exhibitions include: Kunsthall Trondheim, Norway – How did you feel when you came out of the wilderness (2021), Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland – I have seen a million pictures of my face and still I have no idea (2022), Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm and Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo – On Lies, Secrets and Silence (2024/2025). Group exhibitions and biennials include: 34th Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil (2021), 58th Venice Biennale, Italy (2019), 15th Gwangju Biennale (2024), Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), USA – group exhibition Imagining Black Diasporas: 21st‑Century Art and Poetics (2024). In 2025, Orupabo received the SPECTRUM Internationaler Preis für Fotografie for her photographic and collage‑based practice.

Orupabo's works are represented in major collections including Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Museum Ludwig, Cologne/Vienna, the National Museum, Oslo, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk and Kunsten Museum of Modern Art Aalborg.