Emmanuel Osahor

Working across painting, works on paper, sculpture, collage and film, Emmanuel Osahor’s practice seeks to engage with beauty as a necessity for survival in the context of contemporary marginalisation and inequality. Drawing on fictionalised and recognisable spaces, the artist depicts landscapes and formal gardens as sites of sanctuary where the opportunity for care and beauty are present. In doing so, Osahor seeks to create spaces for contemplation and of hopefulness in order to think through an alternative present and future. His predominantly unpopulated works situate the viewer within the landscape, which he constructs through the use of broad, gestural brushstrokes, building his canvases up in layers that convey the luscious density of his scenes. 

Born in Nigeria, Oshahor completed a BFA in Art and Design at the University of Alberta before graduating with an MFA from the University of Guelph in 2021. The artist is the recipient of numerous grants and awards including the Joseph Plaskett Postgraduate Award. He completed a residency at the Banff Centre, Banff in 2016. His work has been exhibited extensively in America including at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto and The Art Gallery of Alberta. His work is held in the permanent collections of the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Art Gallery of Guelph, among others.

He lives and works in Toronto, Canada.