Artist Statement
I am an image maker that often looks like taking photos, but I also create digital works and sometimes mix media installations. I would say that my work is playful but inquisitive. I use art as a way to either ask a question or find an answer. It is also a way of documenting my life and experiences.
In my culture, there’s a saying that roughly translates to 'if you don’t know where you are going, you should at least know where you are from.' This saying is a significant motivation for me. My family is originally from Sierra Leone, more specifically from the Creole tribe, who are descendants of freed African-Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, and Liberated African slaves who settled in Freetown, Sierra Leone. However, I was born in a different West African country and grew up in Canada. The first time I saw my 'home,' I was 10 years old. I have a very complicated relationship with my culture and home and the idea of 'knowing where I'm from.' I find myself wanting to probe and dissect that from all angles.
This has led me to consider what it means to remember the past and to move forward. I find myself questioning social norms and wanting to learn their history. Are they as 'normal' as we think, or were we led to believe this?
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education:
2018 - 2022 Double major in studio art and Media Studies – University of Toronto
Solo Shows:
2023 Gallery 1265 - Shore to Shore the Notes
Selected group Shows:
2024 Nia Center for the Art - A Black Art Fair
2023 The Gift Shop 2.0
2023 Doris Mccarthy Gallery - Prologue
2022 Art Museum - Shelly Peterson Student Show
2021 Art Museum - Shelly Peterson Student Show
2021 Artside Out - Nuit Blanche
2021 Adornment Stories - Transformation Stories
2021 Meta-Menagerie NFT Alice in CypherLand
Selected awards:
2022 Shelly Peterson Award - Lock and Key or something to throw away
2022 Shelly Peterson Award - Lock and Key or something to throw away
2022 Trinity Square Video Award - Lock and Key or something to throw away
2022 Stephen Bulger Gallery Photography Award - Centerpiece
Selected Collections:
2024 CreateSpace Public Art Forum
2021 Spread Arts
2021 Foundation
Publications:
Polemical Zine, Issue 11: Social - December 2019, Issue 14: Glamour – November 2020
Yogurt Culture Zine, Issue 15: Other Worlds - August 2020