ABOUT THE ARTIST

Toledo, Ohio’s Yusuf Lateef is a visual artist working collaboratively to create positive and vibrant murals for neighborhoods in the mid­west and abroad. As an artist, Lateef looks at everyday experiences as transformative while working to imagine the physicality of an “undefended space/life” through community engagement as art practice.

A co-founder of the Toledo Black Artist Coalition, Lateef is a visual artist and educator who’s worked with the Toledo School for the Arts, the University of Toledo School of Visual Arts, Radiant City Arts, and Youth Arts Alliance.

“Art making is actively witnessing the growth of an idea and finding ways to use what is in proximity to help it along. As I make objects, the question of where do these things belong come to mind. When I see an empty space, a hunger to want to occupy it with something comes over me. The empty corners come alive with potential. The bare wall takes on its aesthetic and finds a place in my art experience. The quiet light that bounces unhindered along the floor invites us in like an open door to a lit room. The artist is an ambassador of potential, consistently moving the “zero.”