BIOGRAPHY
Ojo Agi is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher, and educator whose work critically explores identity, placemaking, and practices of care. Informed by feminist theory, postcolonialism, and the social determinants of health, Ojo intervenes in the historical representation of African and Afro-diasporic subjects by centering an African gaze. Through figurative drawings on brown paper, her artistic practice subverts the dominant tradition of starting with a white background–thereby inviting audiences to center Black perspectives. Recent projects include “There is space for you here” (2021), “Becoming” (2020) “Daughters of Diaspora” (2014-2018).
Ojo has exhibited with Campbell River Art Gallery (British Columbia), Milieux Institute (Quebec), and Evanston Art Center (United States); curated and taught with Art Gallery of Ontario, Feminist Art Collective, and OCAD University; and published in C Magazine and Herizons. She holds a BHSc in Health Sciences from the University of Ottawa and an MA in Women and Gender Studies from the University of Toronto. She is currently working towards a PhD in Art History from Concordia University and teaching interdisciplinary drawing courses at OCAD University.
Installation of “Daughters of Diaspora” (2014-2018), photographed by Aaron Clarke for Toned Magazine (2023).
Installation view of “There Is Space For You Here” (2021), part of the group exhibition “The Chorus Is Speaking” at Campbell River Art Gallery in British Columbia. Photograph courtesy of Campbell River Art Gallery (2022).