Critical Distance DIRECTORY Oluseye

Oluseye is a Nigerian-Canadian artist. Using “diasporic debris” — a term he coined to describe the artifacts he collects on his trans-Atlantic travels — he traces Blackness through its multifaceted migrations and manifestations. These transformational objects are recast into sculpture, performance, and photography; their explorations invoke his personal narratives within a broader examination of Black and Diasporic identity, migration, and African spiritual traditions.

Oluseye embraces Blackness as divine, fluid, and unfixed; unbound by time, space, and geographies. As such, his practice blends the ancestral with the contemporary and the physical with the spiritual. He has exhibited at the Museum of the African Diaspora, San Fransisco (2024), Daniel Faria Gallery, Toronto (2024), Southern Guild Gallery, Cape Town (2023), and the Gardiner Museum, Toronto (2023), among others. His first public art commission, Black Ark, was installed in Toronto’s Ashbridge’s Bay Park, and in 2024 will embark on a tour of the Maritimes with stops at the Owens Art Gallery and The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.