About the Black Emerging Artist Residency
The Emerging Black Artist Residency Program is the inaugural 8-week residency spanning throughout spring 2024. The program invited three emerging Black artists in the first 5 years of their professional careers to make use of LSA’s Community Project Space for free studio time, including access to LSA’s art supplies. A professional curator, Sarah Edo, was also invited to consult with the artists and curate an exhibition of their works.
Artists had access to the Community Project Space two to three days per week for 11 weeks from mid-March until the end of May. During that time, they worked on individual artworks, accessed LSA’s staff for consultation in the staff’s areas of expertise, and collaborated with the curator to develop an exhibition. Learn more about the culminating exhibition: The Nature of Intricate Things.
Artists-in-Residence Biographies
Funmilola Adeseun
Funmilola is an emerging visual artist with decades of experience as an architect and adventurer. Keen on mixed media, she brings her muses to life with charcoal, conte, acrylic, watercolour and ink, to create vibrant drawings, paintings and 3D compositions. Family and culture are major inspirations for beauty in her life, as such, with a rich background of celebrations and travel, she aims to capture memories that develop into Legacy within her work.
A Nigerian of Yoruba descent, Funmilola illustrates her culture’s distinct opulence–wealthy colours, rich textures and robust community spirit–with the lively colours, patterns and textures that make up her work. Generally, she wants viewers to experience the joy and beauty of life, femininity, and authenticity in her work.
Funmilola is carving a niche in Toronto’s Creative Landscape, weaving together her worlds of Art and Architecture to create a detailed expression of ‘what Happiness means’ in our environments. She is completing an Arts and Design program at the Story Arts Centre of Centennial College in August 2024 and advancing into a Fine Arts degree in September 2024.
Razan Ali
Razan Ali (b. 1999/Khartoum,Sudan) is an experimental artist whose practice spans mediums including painting, sculpture and nail art. Exploring forms of self and collective expression, Ali’s work highlights the Black diaspora through painting and installation. As a Black queer immigrant from Sudan, Ali strives to create work for people of aligned identities and lived experiences. Her practice and body of work incorporates themes of community justice, bravery and memory within and beyond the Black experience. In 2022, Ali worked with architect Michael Lee Poy, doing environmental sustainability work rooted in the community in Trinidad and Tobago. She is based in Tkaronto, and currently completing a degree in Fine Art at OCAD University in Drawing & Painting.
Miki Perry
Miki Diamond Perry is a New York born, Scarborough raised/based multi-disciplinary artist, whose practice encompasses creative styling and lens based media . Perry has been styling since 2019, and has been featured on SSENSE, the Art Gallery of Ontario, The FADER, Soho House, & ELLE Canada.
Perry’s creative inspirations are drawn from her strong imagination, and sense of intuition and impulsivity. Known for her dynamic, weird, sexy, and sometimes revealing styling, Perry explores her Jamaican roots through intertwining fashion with folklore, gothicism, queerness, sexuality, and Caribbean spirituality. She intends to push the boundaries of fashion and clothing and how it is worn, as well as pay homage to her ancestors and heritage. Perry Is an alchemist and turns anything to gold. She does not only create ‘looks’, she also considers styling to be a valid and overlooked medium of fine arts. Perry is currently expanding her practice and venturing into exhibitions and showcasing her work in gallery settings.
Sarah Edo – Curator
Sarah Edo is a curator and writer born and based in Tkaronto/Toronto. Sarah has curated exhibits and programs with BAND Gallery, Images Film Festival, Whippersnapper Gallery, and the Gardiner Museum. Her art writing has been featured in Studio Magazine, BlackFlash Magazine, CMag, and 1919Mag. Sarah recently joined the Toronto Biennial of Art team as a Curatorial Fellow.
