photo by edwin torres

photo by edwin torres

Seyi Adebanjo

Seyi Adebanjo, MFA, is a Queer Gender-Non-Conforming Nigerian artist who raises awareness around social issues through video, ritual, photography and writing workshops. Seyi's work exists at the intersection of art, imagination, ritual and politics. Seyi is a 2023 Sundance Institute Trans Possibilities Intensive Fellow and serves on the faculty of New York University. Seyi has received a Fatales Forward: Trans Stories Fellowship, an NYSCA Individual Artist Grant , and residency with The Laundromat Project.  Seyi is a 2022 Semi-Finalist for the Sundance Humanities Sustainability Fellowship.. Seyi was nominated for the 2022 Sundance Uprise Grant Fund.

Seyi’s projects include Honor Black Trans Womxn! a call to center, protect and celebrate Black Trans Womxn and I AM! We Are Here!, which illuminates the vitality, spirit and joy of LGBTQ People of Color in the Bronx. Seyi’s powerful short Justice for Islan Nettles has screened on PBS Channel 13, at the Brooklyn Museum, and continues to screen globally. Seyi’s award winning documentary Ọya: Something Happened On The Way To West Africa! is screening globally with a speaking tour.

Seyi’s latest project is Afromystic is a lyrical documentary guided by four LGBTQ Yorùbá practitioners across the waters of Nigeria, the US, and Brazil reclaiming lost mythologies. Afromystic weaves animated Queer & Trans Òrìṣà mythology, poetry, theater and ritual to celebrate the lives of these leaders

Awards

2023 Sundance Institute Trans Possibilities Intensive Fellow

Fatales Forward: Trans Stories Fellowship

2022 Semi-Finalist for the Sundance Humanities Sustainability Fellowship

Bronx Council on the Arts Community Arts Grant            

NYSCA- Individual Artist Grant

Creatives Rebuild New York Think Tank  member (CRNY)

Leslie-Lohman Museum Queer Artists Fellowship Exhibition

The Laundromat Project, Creative Action Fund Grant

Nominated for Art Matters Fellowship

The Laundromat Project Create Change 2019 Artist in Resident,

Spaceworks Bronx Community Artists Grant- Residency Program

BRIO Award- (Bronx Recognizes Its Own)

Best Documentary Short - Drama Baltimore International Black Film Festival

PBS Channel 13, Reel 13 Short Film Award

Best International Short Film Award Sydney Transgender International Film Festival

Pride of the Ocean LGBT Film Festival Award

Representation

Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre

Third World Newsreel