Oluwasemilore Delano, b.1998 in Lagos, Nigeria, is an artist working between Lagos and London. Her practice uses drawing as a tool for propositioning, “Questions have always come easier to me than answers and in many ways, my practice follows this same reasoning. Questions hold a space of time and phenomena to move, with the potential to play with any desired response...my (current) question is what is a Black rainbow?” My practice explores ideas of lineage, family archive, citational practices, Black ontology and what I call the Black redi-made - I am heavily invested in understanding how, Black spatial consciousness, events and conditions manifest within the mediums of charcoal, concrete, oil, black interfaces, textures and objects. Concrete is a difficult material, it is tough and unyielding and its strength only increases with time, charcoal is a remnant of burning, and it holds that heat in its urgent application nevertheless its marks are easily lost. It is in the tension between material properties and limitations that I find and propose my practice of questioning”

“I don’t believe there is any other way to know who I am than to acknowledge the histories that are present and persist in my life. Within a single life, there are several voices we invoke, past lives and future selves. These voices are not subtle, they infiltrate the senses and shape reality. A smell, a faded memory of a wall, the haze of the harmattan sun…versions of self appear in the mind in nonlinear fashion registering different bizarre forms of the past which obstruct and fissure the present. I have found that this waywardness of time is the basis of dwelling away from home. In that way, I feel as though I am always running on Lagos time. An overload of imagery and memory has become integral to a constant practice of locating myself. My work explores this space of errant time and its ability to affect and frustrate chronology, the illegibilities of life”

Delano’s practice focuses on centring blackness within the context of Nigeria, her work explores ideas of lineage, straying landscapes, family archives, citational practices, and Black ontology. She is heavily invested in understanding how Nigerian imaginaries, Black spatial consciousness, events and conditions manifest within the mediums of charcoal, concrete, sandbags and oil paint. Although drawing underpins her practice she has a non-traditional approach to material exploration. Delano studied Architecture at Cambridge University, during which, she received the provost prize for her artistic contributions to the university and became the first student to be exhibited in the Kettles Yard Gallery, Cambridge. Her work was exhibited at the Tate Britain London, Life between Islands opening event, in 2021 and was collected to be included in the archive of the Royal Drawing School as a record of study. In 2023, Delano was awarded the Black Academic Futures Scholarship from the University of Oxford and the Penny Freer Scholarship from Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, for her Masters, where she graduated with a distinction. She is the recipient of the ORB Summer 2024 art prize sponsored by Sotheby’s and was shortlisted for the Royal Society of British Artists Rising Star Award 2024. Delano was the winner of the Lux magazine and Bicester Village Next Generation award 2024, her recent shows include ‘Tide Below’, a group show at Breakers Gallery, London and End of Year Party, at Red Door Gallery Lagos, an exhibition celebrating the diverse skills of Nigerian and African artists, spanning over 150 years of innovation and various mediums.