Larry Ossei-Mensah is a Ghanaian-American curator and cultural critic reshaping our perceptions of art and society with a dynamic blend of innovation and inclusivity. Ossei-Mensah has leveraged his curatorial practice as a platform to establish a global footprint, having curated exhibitions from Manila to London to Athens and, most recently, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Ossei-Mensah employs contemporary art and culture as a powerful medium for challenging norms and fostering a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world.
Formerly the Susanne Feld Hilberry Senior Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCAD), Detroit, and Curator-at-Large at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Ossei-Mensah catalyzes change. Co-founding the nonprofit ARTNOIR, he pioneers racial equity in the art world, amplifying the voices of creatives, curators, and communities of color. Ossei-Mensah's influence spans the globe, curating exhibitions in renowned spaces like MOAD in San Francisco, MASS MoCA, The Metropolitan Museum in Manila, The Seattle Art Museum, Ben Brown Fine Arts in Hong Kong and London, as co-curated of the 7th Athen Biennale in Athens, and most recently the Denver Art Museum where organized a multivenue solo museum debut for Amoako Boafo - Soul of Black Folks.
Recently, Ossei-Mensah curated with ARTNOIR and UBS Bank the groundbreaking multimedia presentation, "The Poetics of Dimensions," at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2023, hailed by Harper’s Bazaar Magazine as a standout exhibition. The presentation featured artists Nari Ward, Sonia Gomes, Melissa Joseph, Anthony Akinbola, and Julianknxx. Ossei-Mensah consistently pushes the boundaries of contemporary expression by collaborating with trailblazing artists such as Steve McQueen, Sanford Biggers, February James, Chase Hall, Catherine Opie, Firelei Baez, and Judy Chicago.
