24 Facts About Osman Yousefzada

Osman Yousefzada is a British interdisciplinary artist, writer and social activist.

Osman Yousefzada is a politically led artist, and is concerned with the representation and rupture of the migrational experience and makes reference in his work to socio-political issues of today.

Osman Yousefzada's response to the hostile language towards Immigrants used by politicians such as Suella Braverman was a series of 5000 billboards across the UK in 2023, saying 'More Immigrants Please' welcoming them with an Eastern Rug collaged into the text artwork.

Since 2013, Osman has been making a 'zine' called The Collective - a cross disciplinary publication of themed conversations, between writers, artists, and curators, including, Milovan Farronato, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Nicola Lees, Celia Hempton, Anthea Hamilton, Prem Singh and others.

Osman Yousefzada was born in 1977 into a Sunni Muslim family in Birmingham.

Osman Yousefzada's Pakistani father was a carpenter, while his mother of Afghan heritage was a tailor running a dress-making business.

Osman Yousefzada grew up in Balsall Heath, to parents who were unable to read or write in English or their mother tongue.

Osman Yousefzada studied anthropology at the SOAS University of London and did a foundation in art and design at Central Saint Martins.

Osman Yousefzada is a research practitioner at the Royal College of Art researching female immigrant experiences through Material Culture.

Osman Yousefzada is a Visiting Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge.

Osman Yousefzada is a Visiting Professor of Interdisciplinary Practice at BCU Birmingham School of Art.

Osman Yousefzada created a short film in 2020, named Her Dreams are Bigger about garment workers in Bangladesh which was shown at the Whitechapel Gallery in London.

Osman Yousefzada's work was reviewed as 'one of the show's finest works at the White Chapel Gallery.

Osman Yousefzada based these items directly on his mother's practice of swathing household objects.

Osman Yousefzada's work is both symbolic of the precarious nature of immigrants' lives, but a tender and complex portrait of a loved one and, by extension, himself.

Osman Yousefzada's show 'Queer Feet' at Charleston house, Firle, the heart of Bloomsbury escapism, included textile compositions feature painted canvases and collaged barricade tape, Afghan, Balouch and Turkish rugs, as well as found materials that are reminiscent of the embroidery the artist's mother, a talented maker, would stitch onto table cloths.

Osman Yousefzada conceptualised and curated the first Migrant Festival at the Ikon gallery, inviting activists, writers, artists, creatives to bring forward voices that are not often heard.

Part of Osman Yousefzada's practice is creating shared platforms and collaboration.

Osman Yousefzada has written on various themes of Race, Labour and marginalised communities.

Osman Yousefzada earned a reputation at London's fashion weeks that year mostly by the black dresses he designed, which prompted the US Vogue magazine to call him the "re-inventor of the Little Black Dress".

Osman Yousefzada launched his first solo exhibition at the Ikon Gallery in 2018.

In 2019, Yousefzada opened up a temporary space in London's Floral Street which he named House of Osman.

In 2020 Ecoage said that Osman Yousefzada 'took the boldest stance'.

In 2020, Osman Yousefzada created an installation putting the conversation of Migration into the heart of the city - titled Infinity Pattern 1.