Tracing Blackness through its many migrations and manifestations, Oluseye blends the ancestral with the contemporary and the physical with the spiritual. Inspired by mẹ́rìndínlógún, a Yoruba divination ritual with roots in West Africa (branching across the Afro-indigenous religions of South America (Candomblé) and The Caribbean (Santería) too), this new installation syncretises spiritual, mythological, religious, biographical and Afro-diasporic elements that continue to nurture Oluseye’s art practice and world visioning.

In Yoruba culture, cowrie shells are symbolic of wealth and prosperity and are used by diviners to communicate with deities and receive guidance. Paying homage to this cultural practice and his personal narratives, Oluseye uses scale to create an immersive and ritualistic experience. Comprising 16 bronze cowrie shells conceived in Ivory Coast, a *divination tray hand-carved in Toronto, along with audio-visual elements captured on a recent artist residency in Brazil, Orí mi pé embodies Oluseye’s peripatetic approach to art-making, and is a testament to the tangible and

metaphysical bonds amongst Afro-diasporic peoples and cultures.

To celebrate the opening of the exhibition, Oluseye will be joined in discussion by curator Julie Crooks (Arts of Global Africa and the Diaspora) in the gallery. This will take place at 2pm on 15 February.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Oluseye is a Nigerian-Canadian interdisciplinary artist who uses “diasporic debris” — a term he coined to describe the artifacts, discarded materials and found objects he collects from his trans-Atlantic travels — to explore Black being across themes. These transformational objects are then recast into sculpture, performance and photography. Their explorations invoke Oluseye’s personal narratives and travels within a broader examination of Black and Diasporic cultures, migration and spiritual traditions.

*A divination tray or "opon ifa" in Yoruba tradition, is a carved wooden tray used by a Yoruba priest or diviner to perform divination rituals.