Jéhan Òsanyìn (they/them) is a West Indian (St. Johnian and Jamaican) transdisciplinary artist, somatic abolitionist, whitewater paddler and afro futurist facilitator. Curious about repetition, time, language, and the stories our bodies tell with and without our consent; Jéhan weaves pedagogy, prose, and language together with their ceramic, metal smithing, and printmaking work.
As a theatre theorist and researcher, Jéhan uses storytelling and play to explore intergenerational trauma as it manifests in the body. While in residency with Aktuelle Architektur der Kultur (AADK Spain) in Blanca, Murcia, they created a trilingual performance piece that explored memory and language (Spanish, Jamaican Patwa, and English); a movement piece with Colectivos Habitantes, and crafted a first draft of a memoir. They are the Founding Executive Director for Earthseed where they used theatre in wild spaces to decolonize those spaces and the bodies that pass through them. They’ve studied theatre in fourteen countries around the globe and studied Cultural Somatics with Resmaa Menakem.
Past projects include, creating and performing YANKEE PICKNEY, directing SassyBlack’s new musical EMERALD JETT in Los Angeles; directing YOKO’S HUSBAND’S KILLER’S JAPANESE WIFE, GLORIA, and the trans superhero musical WONDERBOY! For the 5th Avenue Theatre’s New Works program. They’ve also directed THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ at Seattle Children’s Theatre, directed and co-produced CLOUD TECTONICS with Sound Theatre Company, served as the Understudy Director for THE WIZ & INTO THE WOODS. Finally, they were also the Associate Director for AFTERWORDS also at The 5th. Through the organization they founded, Earthseed, they facilitate workshop series for local and national organizations like, The City of Seattle’s Office of Sustainability and Environment (Anti-Blackness, Colonization, and Climate Justice).
Current projects include: Shortcrust: one part will, one part eulogy, one part cookbook- what I leave my nephews, Esme’s & Thelma’s: a place-making experiment, and a digital archive: a project about memory, voice, and self-parenting.