Abdi Osman

MFA

Abdi Osman headshot, wearing a white t-shirt and black framed glasses, in front of a blurry exterior background.

Abdi Osman

MFA

Abdi Osman

MFA

Assistant Professor of Practice

Research Field

Photography; Art & Technology (Emerging Practices); Drawing; Media Studies

Education

  • MFA, Documentary Media, Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University)
  • BA, African Studies, University of Toronto

Bio

Abdi Osman is a Somali Canadian multidisciplinary artist based in Buffalo, New York, whose work focuses on questions of Black masculinity as it intersects with Muslim, queer and trans identities. For more than twenty years, Osman's practice has been concerned with representing and complicating the gaps evident in hegemonic or normative representations of Black/African peoples to unsettle and broaden ideas about what Blackness is, was, and can be. He has shown his work in solo and group exhibitions, biennale, festivals, screenings, and programs across North America and internationally. Most recently, Osman was a Fellow at the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies at the University of Toronto. 

CV

Selected Exhibitions

  • 2024 Black Queerlooks, El Museo Francisco Oller y Diego Rivera, Buffalo, NY (September 6-October 19).
  • 2024 Gardens of the Mediterranean, The Fine Arts Center, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO
  • 2024 Passport Series, Packard Hall, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO
  • 2023 Interrelations: A third perspective, Campbell River Art Gallery, Campbell River, BC
  • 2022 Berlinale Forum & Forum Expanded, Betonhalle-silent green Kulturquartier, Berlin, Germany
  • 2022 Wish You Were Here, Wish Here Was Better, The Blackwood, University of Toronto Mississauga, ON
  • 2021 Shadowboxing, ArQuives, co-presented with Trinity Square Video, Toronto, ON 
  • 2019 Variations in Black, Queer, and Otherwise, Art Museum, University of Toronto, ON 
  • 2019 Intimate Encounters ~ Animate Histories, Gardiner Museum, Toronto, ON 
  • 2017 Discover Series..., Photopolis, Halifax, NS  

Courses

  • ART 199SEM - UB Seminar
  • ART 220: Time Based Concepts
  • ART 370: Topics - Photography Practices

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