Sometimes I forget – Oseremen Irete
Sometimes I forget – Oseremen Irete
Sometimes I forget – Oseremen Irete
Photography is an exercise in remembering.
In our smart phone and social media addled world, the camera has become a symbol of how hard it is for us to live in the moment. In a weird way though, I think this collective obsession is also the product of a deep appreciation for the present.
We try so hard to freeze moments in time because we know they don’t last forever.
Sometimes I forget is a collection of photos shot on film on a three month trip to my home country Nigeria during winter 2025. The title comes from a journal entry I wrote while there:
“Doing feels like magic.
Wanting to be somewhere, imagining it, and having it happen.
It feels like I wished upon a star.
Sometimes I forget, the star is me.”
Photography is an exercise in remembering. Do you remember how we used to remember?
We have access to more photos and videos than ever before, but we experience them in isolation together. This project draws on a shared, tactile and personal experience of photography that has been eroded by the increasingly digital and online nature of photography.
Oseremen Irete is a Nigerian-Canadian storyteller, documentarian, and digital hoarder based in southern Alberta. While photography is closest to his heart, he is a jack of all trades digital storyteller whose creativity is powered by a deep curiosity about himself and the world around him.
Oseremen creates work from the spare parts of everyday documentation – journal entries, notes apps, phone photos etc.– and uses personal storytelling as a kind of ethnography of self.
Lately, his practice is influenced by his interest in science fiction and fantasy literature, and Black histories — especially on the prairies. He is interested in using photography not just as a tool of documentation, but as a tool for possibility. With photos used to imagine and create (Black) realities different from the one that currently exists.
Date:June 13th, 2026 - August 22nd, 2026
Location:Casa - Passage Gallery
Casa Program Guide
The Casa Program Guide is produced three times a year; Winter, Spring/Summer and Fall. Inside the guide find listings for the upcoming class and workshop schedule, upcoming exhibitions at The Gallery, information about artists in residence and seasonal events in the building. Program guides are free. Pick-up guides at Casa or at facilities throughout the city.