Curator · Writer · Cultural Strategist · London
Péjú
Oshin.
I make space for things
that don't yet have a place.
A decade of named work — at Gagosian, Tate, Barbican, CSM, LCF — and a practice that sits at the intersection of art, culture and design. Founder of Studio Sovereign. Currently building more.
On the practice
"I make space for things that don't yet have a place — in rooms, in archives, in the imagination. That's been true whether I was building a programme at Tate or sewing something for my son at midnight."
Projects by sector
Exhibition · Curation
Rites of Passage
Public Programme
Late at Tate Britain: Hew Locke
Public Art · Commission
Beyond Boundaries
Public Programme
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Fly In League With The Night
Exhibition
Behind The Black Square
Exhibition · Young Curators
Forget Me Not: Reassembling the Barbican Archives
Cultural Production · Co-host
Bal d'Afrique Dinner
Cultural Programme · Moderation
The Artist Series Launch
Fashion Accessories · Founder
Studio Culture 104
Sleepwear · Small Batch
Objects of Rest
Childrenswear
Kekere Studio
Strategy · Equity
Racial Equality Task Force
Consultancy · Heritage
Young People's Programme Strategy
Speculative Design · Adaptive Reuse
Spillers Yard
Thought Studio · Founder
Studio Sovereign
02 — About
Rigour with warmth.
Authority without distance.
I'm a curator, writer and educator who has spent over a decade shaping how culture is made, shown and experienced. From building public programmes at Tate to curating group shows at Gagosian, my practice moves between institutions, brands and the spaces in between. In 2025 I founded Studio Sovereign — a thought-led creative studio for people who understand that culture is not a finishing touch. I'm also a mother, which has changed everything about how I think about making.
Institutions
- Gagosian — Associate Director
- Tate — Curator, Young People's Programmes
- Barbican — Lead Facilitator/Producer
- Studio Sovereign — Founder
Teaching
- LCF — Associate Lecturer
- CSM — Associate Lecturer
- RCA — Visiting Critic
- Goldsmiths — Guest Lecturer
Jury & Board
- Iniva — Trustee
- Yinka Ilori Foundation — Trustee
- Peckham Platform — Chair of Trustees
- flat70 — Chair of Advisory Board
- ArtFund — Curatorial Diversity Group
- Now Gallery — Steering Panel
- Hospital Rooms — Dev. Committee
- Ian Rosenthal Fund 2026 — Judge
- ING Discerning Eye — Judge
- JW Anderson × AWITA — Judge
- Jackson's Art Prize — Judge
- Huxley Parlour fourbythree — Judge
- Angels & Muse Sculpture Prize — Judge
- Sotheby's Together We Thrive — Committee
Recognition
- Forbes 30 Under 30 — shortlisted
- AWITA 15 Rising Stars — awardee
- Nigerians in Diaspora Award
- Curator of the Year 2024
12+
Years
100+
Projects
750k+
Audiences reached
1
Book
3
Continents
Gagosian Quarterly — May 2025
Interview: Christine Checinska & Péjú Oshin — on Africa Fashion, the V&A, and the future of fashion curation
Book — 2021
Between Words & Space
A collection of poetry and prose exploring performativity, vulnerability, and where we find home — across culture, liminality and a global African diaspora.
Order now →Catalogue Essay — 2025
Ars Viva 2025
Kerber Verlag · Haus der Kunst Munich & Kunsthalle Bremen
Essay — Issue 20
MuseumID
International museum practice journal
Selected Engagements
Endless Connections — International Womens Day
Soho House, White City — Table Host/Convenor
The Artist Series Launch — Hazendal Wines UK
In conversation with Athi-Patra Ruga & Khanyisile Mbongwa on queerness, land memory and Indigenous knowledge — Moderator
In Conversation: Simon Frederick — Storytelling, Legacy & Visual Culture
Art'otel, London — Chair & Moderator
Sharon Walters in Conversation — community, activism & visibility
National Portrait Gallery, London — Chair
Crafting Connections: Where Art Meets Architecture
FT Weekend Festival, Kenwood House — Chair, with Jayden Ali
Building Your Art Collection
Simmons & Simmons, London — Keynote & Panellist
Reclaiming Narratives — Black art, ownership & storytelling
Liberty, London — Panellist
Zak Ové in Conversation
Association for Art History, London — Chair
Connections: Black Culture & Creative Expression
Somerset House, London — Chair
Cheltenham Literature Festival — with Charlene Prempeh
Cheltenham Literature Festival — Chair
Talk Art — Season 16
Worldwide — Guest
In Conversation with Maria Balshaw
Tate Modern, London — Speaker
Studio LIVE: In Conversation with Legacy Russell
Studio Museum Harlem, New York — Speaker
A Black Life Matters — with Asiko
United Nations General Assembly, London — Panellist
Black Talk, Back Talk: Capacities of Criticism
Prizm Art Fair, Miami — Moderator
Themes & Topics
I speak at the intersection of art, identity, commerce and culture — for institutions, brands and conferences that want thinking that moves beyond the surface.
Formats
Keynote
45–60 min with Q&A
Panel Chair
Moderation & hosting
Masterclass
Half or full day
In Conversation
Intimate dialogue
Venues & Institutions
Teaching
London College of Fashion
BA Creative Direction For Fashion
Seminars, tutorials, lectures, crits — and a consistent insistence that creative direction is a discipline, not a vibe.
Teaching
Central Saint Martins
MA Applied Imagination · MA Arts & Cultural Enterprise · Graduate Diploma in Fashion
Postgraduate teaching across practice and theory — plus guest lecturing on MA Curating and Collections at Chelsea.
Teaching
Royal College of Art
Visiting Critic
Studio crits and visiting seminars on the relationship between curatorial practice and contemporary image-making.
Teaching
Goldsmiths
Guest Lecturer
Contributing to postgraduate discourse on curatorial practice, diasporic identity and cultural production.
Jury
ING Discerning Eye
Guest judge for one of the UK's most respected open exhibitions of works on paper and small-scale sculpture.
Selection Panel
JW Anderson × AWITA
Sat on the selection panel — alongside Jonathan Anderson, Caroline Douglas (Contemporary Art Society), Valeria Napoleone and Bethan Laura Wood — to commission female arts practitioners to exhibit in the JW Anderson flagship store, Soho. Proposals were assessed on their response to the exhibition-style retail space, their platforming of female visual arts practice, and the historic link between art and fashion.
Board
Iniva & Yinka Ilori
Trustee and board member at two institutions doing some of the most important cultural work in the UK right now.
Somerset House
Featured in the Making It Series asking the question What does a curator do?
Interview — March 2026 Read →
HURS × Levi's
Named as one of five modern-day icons leading where culture goes next
The Women Of — November 2025 Read →
Zikoko
Made in Nigeria: How Péjú Oshin Became Associate Director at the Gagosian
Profile — October 2024 Read →
hube magazine
Liminal spaces and cultural curations — on Rites of Passage, identity and the art of the in-between
Interview — 2024 Read →
The Wick Culture
Monday Muse: on Rites of Passage, liminal spaces and the role of the gallery today
Interview — December 2023 Read →
FLO London
In conversation: on the move from Tate to Gagosian, curating Rites of Passage, and the power of trust
Interview — April 2023 Read →
Voix Meets Mode
Curator / Writer / Educator — on making, liminal space, Between Words & Space and the labour of visibility
Interview — October 2021 Read →
Better Bankside
Bankside: From My Side — on Beyond Boundaries, the neighbourhood and career highlights at Tate
Feature — July 2021 Read →
Cited & Referenced
Cited in academic and professional literature including the International Journal of Art & Design Education (Wiley), Arts Methods for the Self-Representation of Undergraduate Students (Routledge), and the Curatorial Research Centre.
07 — Contact
Let's make
something
worth feeling.
Open to creative direction commissions, institutional partnerships, speaking engagements, and curatorial consultancy through Studio Sovereign. If you have a brief — or a feeling that still needs one — get in touch.