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 site-specific photographic wallpaper commissioned for the Fleck Clerestory gallery at The Power Plant.

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 the 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. The exhibition is accompanied by public programs centred on Osahor’s keen interest in nature’s regenerative power.

About the Artist
Emmanuel Osahor holds an MFA at the University of Guelph (2021) and a BFA in Art and Design from the University of Alberta, Edmonton (2015). His work has been presented in numerous solo and collective exhibitions, including at the Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton; SNAP Gallery, Edmonton; The Works Art & Design Festival, Edmonton; the Art Gallery of Guelph; BAND Gallery, Toronto; and MOCA Toronto. In 2018 Osahor received an honourable mention at the 20th RBC Painting Competition and in 2021 he received the Joseph Plaskett postgraduate award in painting. Osahor is an Assistant Professor of Studio Art at the University of Toronto.

FLECK CLERESTORY COMMISSION
Sylvia's Garden, Version II, 2025

The two panoramic images of this large-format mural are composites of large-format photographs of a garden belonging to Emmanuel Osahor's friend Sylvia, who lives in Guelph, Ontario. Sylvia had cultivated the garden for more than fourteen years at the time, and aspects of it have cropped up in the artist's work since 2021. Osahor is drawn to this site because it serves as a testament to an individual's capacity for care, manifested in the particularities of a private garden.

Created in conjunction with To dream of other places on view in the Royal LePage Gallery, this mural directly relates to a large-scale painting titled Sylvia's Garden, 2021, included in the exhibition. The dialogue between the painting, now in the collection of Art Gallery of Guelph, and this photographic work further deepens the understanding and appreciation of Osahor's practice. The artist often uses photographic documentation while planning the composition of his paintings.

The mural consists of multiple, overlapping perspectives of the garden, shifting in and out of focus, which speaks to the experience of being in a garden where diverse forms of visual phenomena and sensory information inundate the viewer simultaneously. There is also a kinship between the layering of photographic wallpaper and Osahor's paintings, as perspective continually shifts in an attempt to create a gallery experience that makes the feeling of being immersed in a garden palpable. Encompassing the large walls of the Fleck Clerestory, the mural is intended to bring viewers into the heart of Sylvia's garden, creating a memorable encounter.

The Fleck Clerestory Commission is generously supported by Hon. Bill Morneau & Nancy McCain.