const siteMenu = document.getElementById('siteMenu'); const projectsButton = document.getElementById('projectsButton'); const projectsMenu = document.getElementById('projects-menu'); const menuBackdrop = document.getElementById('menuBackdrop'); function openProjectsMenu() { siteMenu.classList.add('projects-open'); menuBackdrop.classList.add('is-active'); projectsButton.setAttribute('aria-expanded', 'true'); } function closeProjectsMenu() { siteMenu.classList.remove('projects-open'); menuBackdrop.classList.remove('is-active'); projectsButton.setAttribute('aria-expanded', 'false'); } function toggleProjectsMenu() { if (siteMenu.classList.contains('projects-open')) { closeProjectsMenu(); } else { openProjectsMenu(); } } projectsButton.addEventListener('click', function(e) { e.stopPropagation(); toggleProjectsMenu(); }); menuBackdrop.addEventListener('click', function() { closeProjectsMenu(); }); document.addEventListener('keydown', function(e) { if (e.key === 'Escape') { closeProjectsMenu(); } }); projectsMenu.querySelectorAll('a').forEach(function(link) { link.addEventListener('click', function() { closeProjectsMenu(); }); });

ARTIST
DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHER
VISUAL STORYTELLER
WRITER

TOLU OLASOJI

Tolu Olasoji
(function () { function initInteriorNav() { var nav = document.querySelector(".interior-nav"); var button = document.querySelector(".interior-projects-button"); var backdrop = document.querySelector(".interior-nav-backdrop"); var projectLinks = document.querySelectorAll(".interior-projects-menu a"); if (!nav || !button || !backdrop) return; function openMenu() { nav.classList.add("projects-open"); backdrop.classList.add("is-active"); button.setAttribute("aria-expanded", "true"); } function closeMenu() { nav.classList.remove("projects-open"); backdrop.classList.remove("is-active"); button.setAttribute("aria-expanded", "false"); } function toggleMenu(event) { event.preventDefault(); event.stopPropagation(); if (nav.classList.contains("projects-open")) { closeMenu(); } else { openMenu(); } } button.addEventListener("click", toggleMenu); backdrop.addEventListener("click", closeMenu); document.addEventListener("keydown", function (event) { if (event.key === "Escape") { closeMenu(); } }); projectLinks.forEach(function (link) { link.addEventListener("click", closeMenu); }); } if (document.readyState === "loading") { document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", initInteriorNav); } else { initInteriorNav(); } })();

ARTIST
DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHER
VISUAL STORYTELLER
WRITER

TOLU OLASOJI

© Tolu Olasoji. All rights reserved.

document.getElementById('current-year').textContent = new Date().getFullYear();
Tolu Olasoji
(function () { function initInteriorNav() { var nav = document.querySelector(".interior-nav"); var button = document.querySelector(".interior-projects-button"); var backdrop = document.querySelector(".interior-nav-backdrop"); var projectLinks = document.querySelectorAll(".interior-projects-menu a"); if (!nav || !button || !backdrop) return; function openMenu() { nav.classList.add("projects-open"); backdrop.classList.add("is-active"); button.setAttribute("aria-expanded", "true"); } function closeMenu() { nav.classList.remove("projects-open"); backdrop.classList.remove("is-active"); button.setAttribute("aria-expanded", "false"); } function toggleMenu(event) { event.preventDefault(); event.stopPropagation(); if (nav.classList.contains("projects-open")) { closeMenu(); } else { openMenu(); } } button.addEventListener("click", toggleMenu); backdrop.addEventListener("click", closeMenu); document.addEventListener("keydown", function (event) { if (event.key === "Escape") { closeMenu(); } }); projectLinks.forEach(function (link) { link.addEventListener("click", closeMenu); }); } if (document.readyState === "loading") { document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", initInteriorNav); } else { initInteriorNav(); } })();
Selected presentations

Exhibitions

Selected current, forthcoming, and recent presentations of Tolu Olasoji’s work.

Current & Upcoming

Current and forthcoming exhibitions, public installations, and presentations.

June 2 – July 31, 2026Status

FIFA World Cup: Soccer Season

Deep Space Gallery / Artsy

Online exhibition

Online group exhibition presented by Deep Space Gallery, featuring Silver, Gold from West African Football Union (WAFU) Cup of Nations Final.

Related work: Silver, Gold collect on Artsy ↗

June 5 – November 1, 2026Status

In The Wind

Art House Productions

Lincoln Park, Jersey City, New Jersey

Large-scale public installation featuring selections from Grey Pride, presented as part of Art House Productions’ In The Wind public art initiative.

Related work: Grey Pride

July 10 – August 21, 2026Status

The Black and White of It All

Artfront Galleries / Newark Local Beer

538 Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey

Group exhibition presented in celebration of Newark Pride, featuring work from Grey Pride.

Related work: Grey Pride

October 2026Status

Newark Arts Festival 2026

Express Newark

Newark, New Jersey

Exhibiting work alongside a selected group of artists across contemporary art spaces in Newark as part of Newark Arts Festival 2026, themed On Purpose.

Related work: Everything Comes Back to Bilal

Selected Past

Recent exhibitions and presentations.

July 11, 2026Status

Joy in Community

Neighbors Studio

370 Pacific Avenue, Jersey City, New Jersey

One-day group photography exhibition presented alongside a JC Heights photowalk, featuring work from Grey Pride.

Related work: Grey Pride

May 28 – June 28, 2026Status

Pride-Full

Heidi Gallery

Livingston, New Jersey

Group exhibition featuring work from Grey Pride.

Related work: Grey Pride

May 16 – June 27, 2026Status

Exquisite Corpses

Nimbus Arts Center, Firmament Gallery

Jersey City, New Jersey

Group exhibition including Eye Candy from Grey Pride.

Related work: Eye Candy (Grey Pride)

May 12 – June 5, 2026Status

Bold Strokes: The Next Generation of Artists at SCNY

Salmagundi Club, Rockwell Gallery

New York, New York

Annual SCNY Jr. & Scholarship Exhibition featuring emerging artists.

Related work: Everything Comes Back to Bilal

February 7 – February 28, 2026Status

Black Is The New Black

Art House Gallery

Jersey City, New Jersey

Group exhibition curated by Bryant Small featuring work from Grey Pride and Everything Comes Back to Bilal.

Related work: Grey Pride, Everything Comes Back to Bilal

August 9 – September 7, 2025Status

The Bias Inside Us companion exhibition

Monmouth Museum

Lincroft, New Jersey

Grey Pride received an honorable mention in Monmouth Museum’s accompanying exhibition to the Smithsonian traveling exhibition The Bias Inside Us.

Related work: Grey Pride

2023Status

From the Sky: New Perspectives on the Ohio River Valley

Great Stone Viaduct

Bellaire, Ohio

Exhibition featuring drone photography related to environmental hazards in the Ohio River Valley, including work on East Palestine created in collaboration with the Center for Contemporary Documentation and Rebecca Kiger.

Related work: East Palestine Train Wreck / From the Sky

(function() { function getToday() { const now = new Date(); return new Date(now.getFullYear(), now.getMonth(), now.getDate()); } function parseLocalDate(dateString) { const parts = dateString.split("-"); return new Date(Number(parts[0]), Number(parts[1]) - 1, Number(parts[2])); } function getStatus(startDate, endDate) { const today = getToday(); const start = parseLocalDate(startDate); const end = parseLocalDate(endDate); if (today < start) return "Upcoming"; if (today > end) return "Past"; return "On view"; } function getSortDate(item, type) { const dateString = type === "past" ? item.dataset.end : item.dataset.start; return parseLocalDate(dateString); } function updateAndSortExhibitions() { const currentList = document.getElementById("currentUpcomingList"); const pastList = document.getElementById("selectedPastList"); const items = Array.prototype.slice.call(document.querySelectorAll(".exhibition-item")); if (!currentList || !pastList || items.length === 0) return; const currentItems = []; const pastItems = []; items.forEach(function(item) { const status = getStatus(item.dataset.start, item.dataset.end); const label = item.querySelector(".status-label"); if (label) { label.textContent = status; if (status === "On view") { label.classList.add("is-current"); } else { label.classList.remove("is-current"); } } if (status === "Past") { pastItems.push(item); } else { currentItems.push(item); } }); currentItems.sort(function(a, b) { return getSortDate(a, "current") - getSortDate(b, "current"); }); pastItems.sort(function(a, b) { return getSortDate(b, "past") - getSortDate(a, "past"); }); currentList.innerHTML = ""; pastList.innerHTML = ""; currentItems.forEach(function(item) { currentList.appendChild(item); }); pastItems.forEach(function(item) { pastList.appendChild(item); }); } updateAndSortExhibitions(); })();

ARTIST
DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHER
VISUAL STORYTELLER
WRITER

TOLU OLASOJI

© Tolu Olasoji. All rights reserved.

document.getElementById('current-year').textContent = new Date().getFullYear();
Tolu Olasoji
(function () { function initInteriorNav() { var nav = document.querySelector(".interior-nav"); var button = document.querySelector(".interior-projects-button"); var backdrop = document.querySelector(".interior-nav-backdrop"); var projectLinks = document.querySelectorAll(".interior-projects-menu a"); if (!nav || !button || !backdrop) return; function openMenu() { nav.classList.add("projects-open"); backdrop.classList.add("is-active"); button.setAttribute("aria-expanded", "true"); } function closeMenu() { nav.classList.remove("projects-open"); backdrop.classList.remove("is-active"); button.setAttribute("aria-expanded", "false"); } function toggleMenu(event) { event.preventDefault(); event.stopPropagation(); if (nav.classList.contains("projects-open")) { closeMenu(); } else { openMenu(); } } button.addEventListener("click", toggleMenu); backdrop.addEventListener("click", closeMenu); document.addEventListener("keydown", function (event) { if (event.key === "Escape") { closeMenu(); } }); projectLinks.forEach(function (link) { link.addEventListener("click", closeMenu); }); } if (document.readyState === "loading") { document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", initInteriorNav); } else { initInteriorNav(); } })();

biography

Tolu Olasoji (b. Nigeria) is an artist, documentary photographer, visual storyteller, and writer tracing how unseen systems shape movement, choice, belonging, and constraint.He earned an MS in Journalism from West Virginia University, where he focused on documentary photography, ethics, and multimedia storytelling. He worked on topics across food insecurity, the opioid epidemic, reproductive rights, and othered Appalachian communities, through a solutions lens, and often with a concentration on community responses.Olasoji’s work has been exhibited in New Jersey, New York, West Virginia, and Ohio. In 2025, Grey Pride received an honorable mention alongside the Smithsonian traveling exhibition The Bias Inside Us at the Monmouth Museum. In 2026, it was selected for In the Wind, a large-scale public installation in Jersey City’s Lincoln Park. Pieces from the series are in exhibits across New Jersey: Exquisite Corpse at Nimbus Arts Center and Pride-Full at Heidi Gallery at JSDD.A piece from his long-form photodocumentary book project Everything Comes Back to Bilal (2022) was selected for the Salmagundi Club’s Bold Strokes: The Next Generation of Artists exhibition (2026).His drone photography of the 2023 East Palestine, Ohio train derailment, created in collaboration with the Center for Contemporary Documentation and photojournalist Rebecca Kiger, was published by The Washington Post, including as a lead digital image and front-page photograph. The work was also exhibited in From the Sky: New Perspectives on the Ohio River Valley at the Great Stone Viaduct in Bellaire, Ohio.Before moving to the United States, Olasoji worked as a photojournalist and multimedia editor at GOAL/DAZN in Nigeria and as a contributing editor at David Byrne’s solutions-oriented magazine Reasons to be Cheerful, covering stories across Africa. He later worked as a visual editor and photojournalist at the geopolitical newsroom GZERO Media in New York.His photography and writing have appeared in Al Jazeera, VICE, Quartz, and elsewhere. His cross-platform practice includes Emmy, Telly, and Webby Award-winning work across documentary, digital, and editorial media. He has received grants and fellowships from PEN America, the Authors League Fund, and Investigative Reporters and Editors.He lives in Jersey City and works across New Jersey and New York.

For curatorial, editorial or collection inquiries, contact Tolu at [email protected] or get in touch here.

ARTIST
DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHER
VISUAL STORYTELLER
WRITER

TOLU OLASOJI

© Tolu Olasoji. All rights reserved.

document.getElementById('current-year').textContent = new Date().getFullYear();

Contact

For curatorial or general inquiries, commission, or art collection, kindly fill the form below.

ARTIST
DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHER
VISUAL STORYTELLER
WRITER

TOLU OLASOJI

© Tolu Olasoji. All rights reserved.

document.getElementById('current-year').textContent = new Date().getFullYear();

Thank you

Thank you for your message. You will be attended to in good time.

ARTIST
DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHER
VISUAL STORYTELLER
WRITER

TOLU OLASOJI

© Tolu Olasoji. All rights reserved.

document.getElementById('current-year').textContent = new Date().getFullYear();
Tolu Olasoji
(function () { function initInteriorNav() { var nav = document.querySelector(".interior-nav"); var button = document.querySelector(".interior-projects-button"); var backdrop = document.querySelector(".interior-nav-backdrop"); var projectLinks = document.querySelectorAll(".interior-projects-menu a"); if (!nav || !button || !backdrop) return; function openMenu() { nav.classList.add("projects-open"); backdrop.classList.add("is-active"); button.setAttribute("aria-expanded", "true"); } function closeMenu() { nav.classList.remove("projects-open"); backdrop.classList.remove("is-active"); button.setAttribute("aria-expanded", "false"); } function toggleMenu(event) { event.preventDefault(); event.stopPropagation(); if (nav.classList.contains("projects-open")) { closeMenu(); } else { openMenu(); } } button.addEventListener("click", toggleMenu); backdrop.addEventListener("click", closeMenu); document.addEventListener("keydown", function (event) { if (event.key === "Escape") { closeMenu(); } }); projectLinks.forEach(function (link) { link.addEventListener("click", closeMenu); }); } if (document.readyState === "loading") { document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", initInteriorNav); } else { initInteriorNav(); } })();

Grey Pride is an ongoing documentary series examining Pride as both refuge and referendum, where celebration, political urgency, visibility, and belonging occupy the same block. Through close observation of movement, distance, and crowd behavior, the work traces how bodies turn toward and away from conflict, how crowds tighten or make room, and how joy sits beside refusal. Working in monochrome, the series uses tonal values to make tension, structure, and texture more legible without flattening lived experience into binaries. Beginning at the 2024 Jersey City Pride festival, it continues as a living archive of how belonging is performed, defended, and reshaped in public.

ARTIST
DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHER
VISUAL STORYTELLER
WRITER

TOLU OLASOJI

© Tolu Olasoji. All rights reserved.

document.getElementById('current-year').textContent = new Date().getFullYear();
Tolu Olasoji
(function () { function initInteriorNav() { var nav = document.querySelector(".interior-nav"); var button = document.querySelector(".interior-projects-button"); var backdrop = document.querySelector(".interior-nav-backdrop"); var projectLinks = document.querySelectorAll(".interior-projects-menu a"); if (!nav || !button || !backdrop) return; function openMenu() { nav.classList.add("projects-open"); backdrop.classList.add("is-active"); button.setAttribute("aria-expanded", "true"); } function closeMenu() { nav.classList.remove("projects-open"); backdrop.classList.remove("is-active"); button.setAttribute("aria-expanded", "false"); } function toggleMenu(event) { event.preventDefault(); event.stopPropagation(); if (nav.classList.contains("projects-open")) { closeMenu(); } else { openMenu(); } } button.addEventListener("click", toggleMenu); backdrop.addEventListener("click", closeMenu); document.addEventListener("keydown", function (event) { if (event.key === "Escape") { closeMenu(); } }); projectLinks.forEach(function (link) { link.addEventListener("click", closeMenu); }); } if (document.readyState === "loading") { document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", initInteriorNav); } else { initInteriorNav(); } })();

Everything Comes Back to Bilal is a long-form documentary project centered on Bilal Adams, a barber who learned his craft in Brooklyn and carried it to Morgantown, West Virginia, where Classic Cutz became one of the town’s few Black-owned businesses. The work follows how a barbershop can hold care, ritual, self-presentation, and return, as students, locals, and families gather across generations. Through close attention to gesture, space, and repetition, the project traces how one person becomes a community, one cut at a time.

ARTIST
DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHER
VISUAL STORYTELLER
WRITER

TOLU OLASOJI

© Tolu Olasoji. All rights reserved.

document.getElementById('current-year').textContent = new Date().getFullYear();
Tolu Olasoji
(function () { function initInteriorNav() { var nav = document.querySelector(".interior-nav"); var button = document.querySelector(".interior-projects-button"); var backdrop = document.querySelector(".interior-nav-backdrop"); var projectLinks = document.querySelectorAll(".interior-projects-menu a"); if (!nav || !button || !backdrop) return; function openMenu() { nav.classList.add("projects-open"); backdrop.classList.add("is-active"); button.setAttribute("aria-expanded", "true"); } function closeMenu() { nav.classList.remove("projects-open"); backdrop.classList.remove("is-active"); button.setAttribute("aria-expanded", "false"); } function toggleMenu(event) { event.preventDefault(); event.stopPropagation(); if (nav.classList.contains("projects-open")) { closeMenu(); } else { openMenu(); } } button.addEventListener("click", toggleMenu); backdrop.addEventListener("click", closeMenu); document.addEventListener("keydown", function (event) { if (event.key === "Escape") { closeMenu(); } }); projectLinks.forEach(function (link) { link.addEventListener("click", closeMenu); }); } if (document.readyState === "loading") { document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", initInteriorNav); } else { initInteriorNav(); } })();

Peer Recovery is a documentary project following peer recovery specialists and men living with substance use disorder in West Virginia. Made inside sober living houses across Charleston and Morgantown, the work considers how recovery is practiced through daily choices, mutual recognition, and the steady presence of people with lived experience of addiction. Not everyone survives, and the houses carry the memory of relapse, return, and loss. At the same time, the project attends to peer recovery as an evidence-based response still vying for fuller institutional support, even as it proves its value in the lives of those who depend on it. The work makes recovery visible as something fragile, collective, and negotiated each day within a wider systemic crisis.Made in 2022, the project forms part of a larger documentary inquiry into addiction, survival, and evidence-based responses in the United States.

ARTIST
DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHER
VISUAL STORYTELLER
WRITER

TOLU OLASOJI

© Tolu Olasoji. All rights reserved.

document.getElementById('current-year').textContent = new Date().getFullYear();