Oluwasemilore Delano, b.1998 , from Ifo, Ogun state, Nigeria, is an artist working between Lagos and London. Her practice continually returns to the question of what it means to paint the figure—the body—not just as form, but as a site of perception. She interested in what it means to look, especially when looking is shaped by materials that push back and have their own histories, contexts, and attitudes. Materials such as —concrete, sandbags, charcoal, textured and monochromatic surfaces—require the viewer to first encounter them, to listen to how they want to be handled, rather than impose meaning onto them. This process becomes deeply connected to how we think about Black bodies, and African histories - how we’re allowed to enter them, rather than assuming immediate access. In this, my work becomes about perception as much as representation: how do we *see* Blackness, and how do the materials we use shape that seeing? “Questions like “ what is a Black rainbow” charge and challenge my practice because they ask me to consider forces, attitudes, and shifting modes of being that resist singular narratives.” Through strategies of abstraction—whether through oversaturation or a barely-there language—she looks for ways of engaging with the body, visual vocabularies for touch, memory, and presence. Materials that offer possibilities for how we understand the Black body—not just as subject, but as a medium, as space, as experience.

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. Solo shows include, the back of the sky, at Fleet house London in May 2025 and an upcoming Solo at TAFETA gallery London, March 2026.