Oluwatoyin Tella
Expansion of Oyo
January 6 – January 28, 2024

Expansion of Oyo is an exhibition of original paintings and a video installation. These works spotlight the continuous thread between
pre-colonial African aesthetic and contemporary Black aesthetic. Despite the trans-Atlantic slave trade traffic that included an insurmountable number of West Africans, the Yoruba culture of Oyo empire has expanded worldwide to the present day. From strongholds in Brazil, Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, and the United States, the cultural influence of the Oyo empire keeps growing, and Oluwatoyin’s work contributes to that expansion. In the exhibition, Oluwatoyin transforms the gallery space through visual and auditory input. These multisensory components are extended to be multi-disciplinary, incorporating vessels and video.

About the Artist:

Oluwatoyin Tella is a creator with a unique affinity towards art and math. She received both her Master of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Howard University. Tella was born in Oyo, Nigeria to a Jamaican mother and Yoruba father. By pulling from a rural Nigerian childhood and matriarchal Caribbean home in New York, Tella incorporates a multi-layered perspective. Her diasporic lineage gives her a compelling point of view, which she is passionate about conveying. While Yo-Yo Ma is among her list of collectors, Tella has shown at various galleries and museums, most notably New York’s African American Museum. She is currently in residence at Red Dirt Studios in Mount Rainier, Maryland, and is a professor at Bowie State University.