CHS Writers in Practice: Osman Yousefzada

In anticipation of his new memoir, The Go­ Between, CHS is delighted to host an in­ conversation with Osman Yousefzada. Osman's practice revolves around modes of  storytelling, merging autobiography with  fiction and ritual. His work is concerned with the representation and rupture of the migrational experience and makes reference to socio-political issues of today. These themes are explored through moving image, installations, text works, sculpture, garment making and performance.

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Osman Yousefzada was born in Birmingham, England to migrant parents who are illiterate in English and their mother tongue. He is an inter-disciplinary artist and a designer, who studied at SOAS and Central Saint Martins, and went onto obtain an MPhil at Cambridge University. Osman’s practice revolves arounds modes of story telling, merging ethnography with fiction whilst making reference to migrational and social political issues of today. He has shown at International institutions from the Whitechapel Gallery, Lahore Biennale, Dhaka Art Summit, Ikon Gallery, V&A, Design Museum, Ringling Museum in Florida and the Cincinnati Art Museum in Ohio. Osman has been nominated for the Annual Designs of the Year Award at the Design Museum London. He edits a collaborative journal, The Collective, a cross-disciplinary publication featuring artists, writers and other creatives, and he has written for The Guardian, Observer Magazine and Vogue. As well as being nominated for various fashion awards, he has been awarded the prestigious BFC New Generation award for three seasons. The Osman Yousefzada clothing line is sold internationally and is worn by celebrities including Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Lupita Nyong’o, Thandiwe Newton, Gwen Stefani, Emma Watson, Freida Pinto and many more. He is a staunch advocate for sustainable materials and artisanal craftsmanship as a way of protecting at risk environments and heritage. He recently made a film on fast fashion garment workers in  Bangladesh - ‘Her Dreams are Bigger’ - where one of the garment workers said that 'I can only dream as much I can afford’ in contrast to her counterpart in the west world.