Yvonne Osei

St. Louis, MO/ Chicago, IL

October 2-31, 2021

“Our Stories Unite US” sponsored by Shepard Broad Foundation

BIO

Yvonne Osei is a German-born Ghanaian multidisciplinary artist, art educator and arts advocate living and working between St. Louis, MO and Philadelphia, PA. Her international creative practice explores topics of beauty, racism and colorism, the authorship and ownership of history, as well as the residual implications of colonialism in postcolonial West Africa and Western cultures. Her work also utilizes textile designs and clothing as artistic mediums to foreground socio-political issues of global concern. Osei received her MFA from Washington University in St. Louis, where she was a Chancellor’s Graduate Fellow, Mr. and Mrs. Spencer T. Olin Fellow, and Danforth Scholar. She holds an MS in Fashion Design and Business from Lindenwood University in St. Charles, MO and a BFA from Webster University in St. Louis. As a visiting artist scholar, Osei has been invited to Pentecost University in Accra, Sterling College in Kansas, Indiana University Bloomington, University of Missouri, Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland and TEDxStLouis. Osei is the 2016–17 Romare Bearden Graduate Minority Fellow at the Saint Louis Art Museum and the 2017-2020 Curator-In-Residence for the Millstone Gallery at the Center of Creative Arts. She is the recipient of the 2018 Saint Louis Visionary Award for Emerging Artist, the 2018 Creative Stimulus Award by Critical Mass for the Visual Arts and the 2019 Futures Fund Grant by The Luminary in St. Louis. Osei has performed and exhibited nationally and internationally, including Everson Museum of Art (Syracuse, New York), Lambert International Airport (St. Louis, MO), Ariana Park (Geneva, Switzerland), Asafo Market (Kumasi, Ghana), and Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Lisbon, Portugal). She has attended residencies at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and others. Her solo exhibitions “Who Discovers the Discoverer?” and “Sea to Shining Sea” were recently on view at the Bruno David Gallery, where she is represented. Osei currently serves as the Membership Chair for Women and the Kemper at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, an adjunct professor at Webster University and an art- based corporate training coach at COCAbiz. She has been invited as a guest juror for the 2021RISE Exhibition in Alton, IL and the 2021 St. Louis Art Fair.

ARTIST STATEMENT

An African proverb states that the narrative will favor the hunter until the lion learns to write. My life’s work can be described as a dedication to ensuing that the lion’s story is heard. One of the major issues we, as people from the African diaspora, are faced with is the misinformation, disinformation and lack of information about our history, contributions, culture, perspectives and our legacy. What motivates my practice is a belief in art to provide a voice and visibility for the unseen and unheard. As a German-born Ghanaian visual and performance artist, I have nurtured an intercontinental creative practice that examines topics of beauty, racism, colorism, the politics of clothing, complexities associated with global trade, and the residual implications of colonialism in postcolonial West Africa and Western cultures. Most recently, my work has been invested in scrutinizing the authorship, ownership, and commodification of historical narratives. This includes how history is studied and understood as a weapon of cultural erasure and psychological destruction as well as a catalyst for legitimizing and establishing nations. Growing up in the Ashanti Kingdom of Ghana exposed me to a society where art, culture and traditional governance are synergetic. In my culture, art is most alive when it is in public and in service to the community. My methodology of creating art that is socio-politically conscious, collaborative and active in public space stems from witnessing the power of art in my Ashanti culture. Inspired by my heritage, art for me has always extended the object. It is also a verb—set in motion—to transform thoughts, present new perspectives and challenge the status quo. In this very understanding, I practice art as both noun (object) and verb (act), and engage non-traditional audiences in my process. I blend object-oriented art making with environment-oriented experiences where viewers can step into, sit in, climb on and embody my artworks. Through performance art, engaging public spaces, architectural installations, photography, textile design and other collaborative initiatives, my work serves as a mouthpiece for generations that have been marginalized as I push against unilateral perspectives that have taken root in various societies.

My work is also at the intersection of art and fashion. In recent years, I have taking great interest in the use of textile designs and garment construction as artistic mediums primarily because of their ability to mediate between private and public spaces. I am drawn to how clothing is a basic necessity yet it serves as an accurate barometer indicating a person or society’s social, mental, and economic state. I utilize textiles I design and garments I construct in installations and live performances that foreground issues of global concern. I describe myself as an outsider artist making insider art, affirming deep roots in traditional West African art and culture while actively participating in the study and practice of Western Art. The term “outsider artist” also references my site-specific interventions in public space often fueled by explorations of travel across various cultures on the European, African, and North American continents in search of untold perspectives in both global and art history.

ARTIST LINKS

Website: www.yvonneosei.com

Instagram: @eve_of_on