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Ojo Agi’s dreamy drawings build a new visual language on how Black women are seen as an act of cultural repair.
Ojo Agi’s artwork exists at the intersection of portraiture and cultural memory. Across meticulously rendered drawings that centre Black women and diasporic life, she constructs images that are intimate and political. They are acts that challenge stereotypes and historical erasure. Raised within a family where creativity was woven into everyday life, Agi’s artistic education unfolded through observation and experimentation.
For this edition of #WorkLife, Agi shares the inspiration behind her visual vocabulary and how she sharpened her understanding of art as both a personal language and a global conversation. She talks about laying the foundation for a practice that is deeply engaged with questions of identity, belonging, and representation. She approaches art making as a form of cultural intervention, one capable of reshaping how Black women are seen, remembered, and imagined. Her signature use of brown paper creates visual environments where shades of blackness are highlighted. Agi continues to bridge the worlds of artistic production and critical inquiry, advancing a practice grounded in the conviction that representation is a force which transforms consciousness, influences institutions, and expands the possibilities of collective belonging.
How did you get started in Art?
Portrait of Ojo Agi photographed by Aaron Clarke Art has genuinely been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I am mostly self-taught, coming from a family of creative people where drawing, painting, sewing, knitting, animating, and writing were regular activities. Although I pursued a degree in health sciences, I spent all my free time drawing and developing my skills in portraiture. I would share my drawings online, which provided me with a creative community for constructive feedback and informal learning.
I first began exhibiting my work in 2015 with the Ottawa Black Artist Kollective and took my first formal art classes at OCAD University the following year. Around the same time, I was also travelling a lot, which gave me a sense of possibility for this career path. During my trips to Johannesburg, Lagos, Bangkok, New York, and Marrakech, I would visit galleries and connect with as many artists as I could, which really shaped my art practice.
Tell me about your current Art practice as it relates to art-making, research, teaching and becoming a PhD candidate?
My art practice over the past ten years has largely been an extension of my research. I study Black feminist and postcolonial theory, with a focus on African diasporic identity and belonging. I began making the connections between colonialism, racism, sexism, and health inequities in my undergrad and turned to artmaking as a way of processing my emotions and creating images that affirmed my identity as a Black African woman living in Canada.
Whenever I felt marginalised, misrepresented or stereotyped (in the classroom or by the media, for example), creating a portrait became a way to counter that negative experience and represent a reality in which Black women are centred and cared for. A lot of my work is influenced by scholars like Bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Frantz Fanon, Stuart Hall and others who helped me to discover that representation holds so much power, and that power can shift cultures, which can shift systems.
I started working with brown paper in 2012 to use the background to represent the figure’s skin tone but also to show that they exist in environments where their Blackness is reflected around them. Rooted in all this is my belief that Black women deserve to live well, and images have the power to teach, inspire and affirm us on our journey to get there. Pursuing a PhD in Art History (after completing an MA in Women and Gender Studies) has been part of my effort to be in spaces where I can influence the way Black art is exhibited and documented.
What does a typical workday look like for you?
There is no typical workday! On any given day, I could be dropping off artwork for an exhibition, filling out a grant application, experimenting with new materials and techniques, writing a literature review, posting on social media, or delivering a presentation. I wear many hats. I’ve learned to see my work as seasonal. In some seasons, I am creating more, in others I am writing more, and in others I am teaching more.
It’s not sustainable to try to do everything at once, so setting quarterly, weekly, and daily goals helps to organise my workflow. In this current season, I am balancing my studio practice with writing my dissertation. I set one or two goals in each area for the week and allow myself the flexibility to get the tasks done around my wellness routine, which has taken priority in recent years. I enjoy slow mornings when I can journal, pray, read my Bible, eat mindfully, and take a walk in the park. Everything else gets sorted around that.
Read also: Sosa Omorogbe on curating culture and amplifying Nigerian art globally
Your artworks celebrate and portray Black people, most especially Black women. Tell me more about the significance of this in your work?
View this post on InstagramI grew up in Canada in the ‘90s and ‘00s, before we had the abundance of images celebrating everyday Black beauty and stories. My experience of racism, colourism and texturism deeply affected my desire to make images that affirmed African features and perspectives. I especially wanted to move away from the stereotypical portrayals in Afrocentric art, which sometimes idealise women in an unhealthy and unrelatable way. Working from photographs of real people, including my family and friends, allows me to represent Black people with authenticity. I especially love drawing women with natural hair, recreating the texture of tight curls or the intricate pattern of braids. It’s my way of reflecting the world I want to see around me and permitting myself to show up as I am.
What is one lesson you have learned from building your career?
It’s a marathon, not a sprint. I was really ambitious in my twenties and felt like I had to achieve my greatest work by thirty. But the reality is that we work for the majority of our lives, and I am just at the beginning of my career, despite being more than ten years in. I’m consciously trying to slow down and embrace the journey. Direction is more important than speed.
You have a new exhibition coming up this month, “When Angels Speak of Love.” What is the inspiration behind it?
View this post on InstagramI have three pieces in the exhibition, curated by Armova Curatorial and featuring seven other artists. The exhibition is inspired by bell hooks’ influential “All About Love”, which is one of my favourite books by her. Two of my pieces are drawings depicting Black people in moments of rest, part of my ongoing work in the past few years to make images that represent self-care as a necessary part of Black wellness and liberation. In one image, there is a couple sleeping, and in the other, there is a young woman in the midst of a meditation. Alongside these drawings, I’m exhibiting my first installation work. It takes the form of a hammock, which I hand-wove over 6 months last year as a commentary on Black women’s labour and rest.
Has there been a defining moment in your career when you felt truly seen as an artist? What impact did that experience have on your confidence and direction?
Yes. In 2016, I organised a pop-up exhibition of my drawing series “Daughters of Diaspora” in Ottawa. I had created over twenty portraits of young African women with various skin tones, features and hairstyles–each titled with a cultural name–to represent myself, my sisters and my friends who grew up in the diaspora without seeing ourselves or our stories reflected around us. So many people passed through the exhibition that day and shared with me how meaningful it was for them to see themselves in the work. And others told me it inspired them to create work exploring their own cultural heritage, experience with migration and navigating their hybrid identities. The experience gave me the affirmation that I have a gift, and it’s important to keep sharing what I learn and experience through art.
Read also: These Nigerian artists at the Venice Biennial are expanding cultural influence globally
Who are your inspirations, and where do you draw inspiration from to inspire new work?
Portrait of Ojo Agi photographed by Aaron Clarke I’m mostly inspired by Black women artists, writers and musicians and how they transform their lived experiences into works of art. Some of my favourites are Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Solange Knowles, Mega, Octavia Butler, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. But that’s definitely not an exhaustive list! In a similar vein, my inspiration for my own work comes from my life. I use my art to process my experiences and to create beauty and meaning with the resources and skills I have.
The art industry is changing rapidly. What is a philosophy that shapes the way you navigate your presence in the industry?
I think it’s important to be grounded in your values and beliefs; otherwise, you’ll be lost in the crowd with every shifting trend. I’m firm about taking opportunities that feel aligned with my values and creating my own if I don’t see what I’d like in front of me. As volatile as the industry is, one thing that never changes is that artists have agency to create whatever we want and bring it into this world. When you’re moving in your purpose, the right opportunities come forward and the right partnerships form. If you need to chase, beg, or sacrifice your beliefs to get ahead, then it’s not the right opportunity for you.
What is a core message you hope your artworks share with your audience and community?
I don’t have a direct answer for this. My job is to make art that expresses something within me. I love when people can resonate with any aspect of it, whether it’s the technical skill or the story behind the work. Whatever inspiration people take from it makes me happy. I always learn more about myself and my art when others choose to share with me what they see in it. It’s a dialogue.
How important is work ethic and consistency in your practice? Do you find yourself working every day?
Very important. I am constantly in pursuit of excellence. This means persisting in the drawing medium despite the existence of faster and more lucrative image-making processes, and finding simple ways to push myself with each new piece, whether it’s scaling up or portraying multiple figures in one drawing or representing new poses I haven’t tried before. Progress comes with practice, and practice requires showing up consistently. I don’t draw every day, but I definitely do something for my art practice every day. There’s a lot of admin, coordination, and research that supports an art practice.
In terms of the bigger picture, what do you feel you want the impact of your artworks to be?
I want my work to help shift the culture of how we expect Black women to show up. Not just as workers and caretakers putting everyone else’s needs first. But in our full humanity and expression, as our natural selves, as people who also need care and love and support, as beautiful as main characters and so much more.
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