Emmanuel Osahor
To dream of other places
The Power Plant, Toronto
Through September 14, 2025
Room for two, 2023
Oil on canvas
Photo: Joseph Hartman
© Emmanuel Osahor, courtesy The Power Plant
Emmanuel Osahor’s practice focuses on beauty as a necessity for survival, respite, and sanctuary. Known primarily for his paintings of lush, verdant gardenscapes—inspired by real and imagined locations—these works meditate upon the complicated histories of these sites that entail the domestication of lands, plants, and individuals alike. To dream of other places is the artist’s first major solo presentation in his home city of Toronto and includes paintings, drawings, prints, ceramic sculptures, and a new, site-specific photographic wallpaper. Conceived as a night garden, the exhibition presents Osahor’s work in a unique environment intended to immerse the viewer in a contemplative space where feelings of delight and sorrow coexist as reflections of human experience. The artist’s poetic yet critical approach to a subject that has been well represented throughout art history reflects a practice that is profoundly engaged with beauty, painting, and the everyday at a time when meaningful encounters with art are needed more than ever.
Curator: Adelina Vlas, Head of Curatorial Affairs
THE POWER PLANT Contemporary Art Gallery
231 Queens Quay West, Toronto, Ontario M5J2G8
Emmanuel Osahor: To dream of other places
The Power Plant, Toronto, April 11 - September 14, 2025
