Odili Donald Odita

Odita was born in Enugu, in southeastern Nigeria in 1966, the son of Nigerian artist and art historian Okechukwu Odita. Odita's father was influential in the development of his artistic career, providing an introduction to the artistic legacy of Africa as well as exposing him to the concerns of contemporary artists. His father was a member of the Zaria Art Society, along with Uche Okeke and Bruce Onobrakpeya, and later taught at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Odita was raised in the US, where his family moved just before the outbreak of the Biafran War, eventually settling in Ohio, where his father continues to teach art history at Ohio State University.

Odita received his BFA from Ohio State University in 1988 and MFA from Bennington College in Vermont in 1990. He moved to New York in the 1990s where he made the acquaintance of scholar, critic and curator Okwui Enwezor and began writing for Enwezor's publication Nka, a journal that helped to bolster the visibility of contemporary African art in the United States. Odita has since held academic positions at Florida State University, Yale University School of Art and currently at Temple University in Philadelphia, where he lives and works.