Abraham O. Oghobase

Abraham Onoriode Oghobase (b. 1979 in Lagos, Nigeria; he/him) is a visual artist living and working in Toronto, Canada. For almost two decades, Oghobase has embraced photography as a way of exploring socio-economic, environmental and historic geographies – using his own body as a recurring subject. In more recent times, he has challenged and tested the limits of the photograph as well as conventional image-making by experimenting with the narrative and material potential of images and objects. From dissecting the lithographic printing process – monochrome prints on paper, metal plates and film transparencies – to, more recently, incorporating collage and photocopy techniques that combine and repeat images across time, Oghobase confronts issues around knowledge production, land, colonial history and representation, embracing the power of abstraction and revealing new possibilities in meaning and imagination. Oghobase’s work has been exhibited widely, including in the Nigeria Pavilion at the upcoming La Biennale di Venezia 60th International Art Exhibition; the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Polygon Gallery, Vancouver; Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg; Pace Gallery, London, KADIST, Paris; and Art Twenty One, Lagos. A recipient of the inaugural Okwui Enwezor Prize at the 12th Rencontres de Bamako African Biennial of Photography in 2019, his work is held in the permanent collections of institutions including MoMA; Art Institute of Chicago; Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina; and Museum of Contemporary Art, Kiasma, Helsinki. Oghobase holds an MFA in Visual Arts from York University, Toronto.