Artist Statement

MISU is a survivor and a storyteller.

They operate in the belief that memory, as active and vegetate liminal spaces, serves as an anchorage to reclaiming identity. They utilize self-portraiture and abstraction to document the limitless states of Self, identity, emotion and gender expression. They explore emotionality through color and the tactile nature of creating marks as new definitions of consciousness and materiality emerge in their work.
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Bio:

Raised and bred on the Southside of Chicago, MISU is an interdisciplinary artist. Their work explores themes related to their personal history, such as vulnerability, fragmented realities, intersecting identities and their cross-cultural upbringing as a Nigerian-American. Within these topics is the undercurrent of creating, holding, and sharing a memory.They work in media that activate living memory through painting, installation and photographic processes. As they continue to do the work to heal themselves, they seek to work through moments of catharsis in media and processes unfamiliar to them, to initiate new modes of coping in the present.

They obtained their BA in Studio Art at Chicago State University. They received scholarships quarterly during their undergraduate program based on the strength and merit of their distinctive coursework. Since participating in the Art Institute of Chicago's Andrew W. Mellon Undergraduate Curatorial Summer Academy, they have explored independent fine arts curatorial opportunities.

They have exhibited at several galleries in cities such as Chicago, IL, Oshkosh, WI and Acme, MI as well as receiving numerous honorable mentions for their photography work. Their budding art practice is continually driven by community engagement, deeply situated introspection, and the research of tangible and ephemeral materiality in quotidian rituals.​

They currently live and work in Chicago, IL.

Inquiries should be directed to heythere@misuturaseyeful.com.