Description of the exhibition
A cluster of monumental bronze seashells rests on undulating mounds of red dirt, playing on our relationship with scale, dreams, and the imaginary. The value of my dreams will not drown me (2023) explores the value of things. The cowrie shells amount to both Oluseye’s weight and a value equivalent to that of the line of credit he used to finance his full-time art practice. They also evoke ancestral knowledge and forms of trade in many parts of the world. Used by communities in West Africa for spiritual practices that were devalued and suppressed by European invaders, the seashells made their way to North America via the transatlantic slave trade. By constituting his own system of exchange, Oluseye gives back power to this practice that has been effaced by colonial domination and abuse.
Here, Oluseye extends the migration of these shells by adding red earth, connecting us back to the rich red lands of Africa. The installation’s shape also mimics Gorée Island in Senegal, from where millions of enslaved Africans were transported on ships built in what is now known as Canada. In its many embodied and ever-moving layers, the installation speaks of generations of migrants who have woven together oceans and rivers in a network of cultures, rituals, economies, and heritage.
