Focus at DEPOT

27/09/2024

11:00

Focus at DEPOT

Focus is a project that unites the work of diverse artists to foster dialogue and showcase a wide range of perspectives. The three artists—Valerie Asiimwe Amani, Jermaine Francis, and Sunil Shah— will exhibit work during the inaugural DEPOT event.

Focus brings together the work of Valerie Asiimwe Amani , Jermaine Francis, and Sunil Shah to explore interconnected themes of identity, culture, and history. Their diverse practices intertwine to create a rich dialogue, reflecting on personal and collective experiences through a contemporary lens.

Focus sits within the context of DEPOT, a pioneering new three-day art event in Oxford. The event brings together artist-led commercial galleries, individual artists, and the non-profit arts charity Fusion Arts for a unique collaborative experience that introduces new voices from the contemporary art world to the city. The 2024 edition features nine national galleries selected by invitation, along with solo presentations by international contemporary artists.

Event Details

- Dates

Exhibition open to the public:

Friday, 27th September, 11am - 6pm

Saturday 28th September, 11am - 6pm

Tickets are free, sign up here

- Location

DEPOT, 15 Park End St, Oxford OX1 1HH

- Special Events

Late opening, Friday 27th September from 6pm, sign up here

Artist's Talk, Saturday 28th September, 2-3pm (TBC)

Drop-in Art workshop, Saturday 28th September, TBC

The founding partners of DEPOT are ARTSVP, Benjamin Parsons, Fusion Arts, and The Art Five.


About the Artists

Body of Water, 2023 - Courtesy Cooke Latham Gallery and BJDeakinPhotography
Valerie Asiimwe Amani: Body of Water, 2023 - Courtesy Cooke Latham Gallery and BJ Deakin Photography

Valerie Asiimwe Amani

Valerie Asiimwe Amani is a Tanzanian interdisciplinary artist and writer whose work explores how body, language, and myth shape the self within and apart from community. Her art navigates the intersections of the political, domestic, and intimate, bridging these themes across various mediums.

Amani has exhibited internationally in cities like Lagos, New York, Paris, Cape Town, and Leipzig, with solo presentations in London and Dar es Salaam. Notable recent shows include In My Dream We Spoke Another Language at Forster Gallery Zanzibar, the performance Bahari Chumvi at ICA London, and Boundary Encounters at Modern Art Oxford.

Currently pursuing a PhD at The Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University, Amani has received prestigious accolades such as the 2023 Foundwork Art Prize, 2022 Ingram Prize, and 2021 Ashmolean Museum Vivien Leigh Prize. Her work has been featured in Art Monthly, Hyperallergic, and Texte Zur Kunst.

Jermaine Francis: LOVE supreme #001
Jermaine Francis: LOVE supreme #001

Jermaine Francis

Jermaine Francis is a London-based artist working with photography and moving images, exploring themes of politics, culture, power, race, and class. His work has been exhibited at major venues including the International Centre of Photography (New York), National Portrait Gallery (London), Saatchi Gallery, and Dulwich Picture Gallery.

Jermaine has contributed to monographs such as The Art of Protest and ICP Concerned, and published three books, including Something That Seems So Familiar Becomes Distant and Rhythms from the Metroplex. His editorial work has appeared in I-D Magazine, The Face, and FT Weekend Magazine.

In 2023, he co-curated Notes on a Native Son, After Baldwin for Peckham 24 Photo Festival and is set to release the second edition of A Post-Industrial Dreamscape. Jermaine is currently an associate lecturer at the Royal College of Art, London College of Communication, and Central Saint Martins. He was nominated for the 2024 Foam Paul Huf Award.

Sunil Shah, From Series ‘1969’ (2020-2024)

Sunil Shah

Sunil Shah is an artist and writer. He is PhD candidate at Central St. Martins, University of the Arts London (UAL) affiliated with Afterall Research. He is currently researching art and exhibition histories with a particular focus on Okwui Enwezor’s Documenta11 (2002). His work centres on the visual document, photography and the archives with an interest in analysing their role in relation to postcolonial theory, social and political history and black studies. In addition to several group shows (The Photographers Gallery, London Gallery West and Peckham24), he has had solo shows of his work Uganda Stories at the New Art Exchange (2015) and The Pitt Rivers Museum (2018). He is Editor of Neither Magazine (2023) and a freelance writer, with contributions to American Suburb X online photography and visual culture platform, FOAM Magazine, FOMU Extra and several other titles and commissions.



What's on

Browse upcoming events, exhibitions, workshops and classes at Fusion Arts and in the wider community.

DEPOT 25
15 Park End Street 26.09.25

DEPOT 25

DEPOT 25
Fusion Focus 2025: Xeno-space
15 Park End Street 26.09.25

Fusion Focus 2025: Xeno-space

Fusion Focus 2025: Xeno-space
What’s Wrong With Us!?!
15 Park End Street 11.07.25

What’s Wrong With Us!?!

What’s Wrong With Us!?!
FRONTLINE, Ryan Hawaii
15 Park End Street 14.06.25

FRONTLINE, Ryan Hawaii

FRONTLINE, Ryan Hawaii
Community banner & placard making session
15 Park End Street 05.10.25

Community banner & placard making session

Community banner & placard making session
Women of Colour Creative Writing Session
15 Park End Street 03.10.25

Women of Colour Creative Writing Session

Women of Colour Creative Writing Session
Drop-in Zines and Poster Workshop with Julia Utreras (Common Press)
15 Park End Street 27.09.25

Drop-in Zines and Poster Workshop with Julia Utreras (Common Press)

Drop-in Zines and Poster Workshop with Julia Utreras (Common Press)
Unprecious Instrument Workshop with Rob Shuttleworth (Haddow)
15 Park End Street 26.09.25

Unprecious Instrument Workshop with Rob Shuttleworth (Haddow)

Unprecious Instrument Workshop with Rob Shuttleworth (Haddow)
Thomas Sankara "Dare to invent the future"
15 Park End Street 25.10.25

Thomas Sankara "Dare to invent the future"

Thomas Sankara "Dare to invent the future"
Xeno-space Closing Conversation
15 Park End Street 28.09.25

Xeno-space Closing Conversation

Xeno-space Closing Conversation
Performance & readings in Xeno-space
15 Park End Street 26.09.25

Performance & readings in Xeno-space

Performance & readings in Xeno-space
Pan-Afrikan Centaurians:  Celebrating the 100th birthdays of  Frantz Fanon and Patrice Lumumba
15 Park End Street 19.07.25

Pan-Afrikan Centaurians: Celebrating the 100th birthdays of Frantz Fanon and Patrice Lumumba

Pan-Afrikan Centaurians: Celebrating the 100th birthdays of Frantz Fanon and Patrice Lumumba

Supporters of Fusion Arts

Oxford City Council Arts Council England National Lottery Funded Project Grant National Lottery Community Fund Oxfordshire Community Foundation Here for Culture Doris Field Charitable Trust BBC Children in Need Levelling Up South Oxfordshire District Council Christ Church College Jesus College