The curators of Dear Earth, at London’s Hayward Gallery, said they took inspiration from Nkanga’s maxim that ‘caring is a form of resistance’, with care being afforded to both the human and nonhuman subject. In that exhibition she showed Double Plot (2018), a vast tapestry depicting the solar system, while more recent textiles, drawings, photographs, sculptures and performance works featured in solo shows at the Frist Art Museum, Nashville, and the Institut Valencià d’Art Modern. ‘Care’ is not just a modish curatorial buzzword for Nkanga, but the driving force behind O8 Black Stone, a black soap made of petrol sediment (name-checked in Teju Cole’s new book), sold in aid of her Athens project space, Akwa Ibom, and an organic farm in Nigeria that promotes biodiverse planting practices and doubles as a hub for the rural community. While shifting galleries, from Mendes Wood DM to Lisson, Nkanga remains as formally innovative as she is socially conscious, winning this year’s $100,000 Nasher Prize for Sculpture.