Edition 18
Yetunde Olagbaju
02-03-20 - 04-24-20
Yetunde Olagbaju is a multidisciplinary artist, curator, and collaborator based in Oakland, CA. Through their work with performance, sculpture, and photography, they explore emotional excavation as a through-line for inquiries regarding Black trauma, legacy, and the processes of healing. By creating work that exists within and expands upon nonlinear time, they seek to recreate myths that both flatten and expand Black existence.
For Limited Edition, Yetunde brings the intimate and introspective experience of a sunset into the gallery setting. A reflection area stocked with handmade postcards, writing utensils, and audio tapes pairs with a large-scale video loop—captured while experiencing a colorful Bay Area sunset—and creates a space for reflection and connection.
Sunset Loop #1 encourages viewers to slow down and reflect on a memory or feeling, or write someone they love. The video’s extreme shift in scale, combined with Yetunde’s prompts, allows the viewer to zero in on a moment of reprieve and nostalgia, focus on positive memories or healing traumas, and share reflections beyond the gallery in a gesture of human connection.
As an active member of the Bay Area arts community and beyond, Yetunde Olagbaju has shown work with the Oakland Museum of California, New Image Gallery, Pt. 2 Gallery, Southern Exposure, Guerrero Gallery, SOMArts Cultural Center, The New School, and Art Basel Miami. They have collaborated with SFMOMA, Facebook HQ, Museum of the African Diaspora, CounterPulse, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
Yetunde is co-curator of the recurring Black and Brown film night—Opalescent—and is pursuing an MFA at Mills College, with their thesis exhibit opening this spring at the Mills College Museum of Art. They are a recipient of the Murphy Cadogan Award as well as the inaugural Nancy Cook Photography Award.
