Jelsen Lee Innocent


Jelsen Lee Innocent (b. 1983, Brooklyn) is a Haitian-American interdisciplinary artist based in Norway. Grounded in artistic research, his work traces the afterlives of imperialism through labor, land and image, with a sustained focus on Haiti, the Caribbean and their relationship with the West. He works across sculpture, installation, video, publishing and public programming, often with materials whose provenance carries the argument, from denim produced in Haitian export zones to U.S. rice bags and Norwegian slate.

Solo exhibitions include The World, the Flesh and the Devil, Kunsthall Trondheim (2026), and Truth Has No Friends in The West, NITJA senter for samtidskunst, Lillestrøm (2025). 

Group exhibitions include (be)longing / å falle mellom to stoler, HoF, Moss (2023); Men of Change, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, US (2020); We Are Not Myths: Opacities Across Difference, CAS / Art Hub, Copenhagen (2019); and the 32nd Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana (2017). He was artist in residence at Iwalewahaus, Bayreuth, as part of the 49° Grenzüberschreitungen festival Future Ports of Entry (2016).



jelseninnocent@gmail.com                     IG: @maroon.method



CV Download




Portrait by Ayan Abdi


@___pavilion___

A public reading room and salon for Black art, architecture and design, initiated by Innocent and housed in his Rådhuset studio in Oslo.

The space, co-designed and built with artist and designer Kevin Kurang, holds African, Black and Caribbean published accounts as a continuous field of thought.

Seasonal events, talks and gatherings take their direction from the books themselves.


Peer Review

A *closed platform for Black collective reflection on African representation across visual culture. Initiated and run by Innocent since September 2024, it convenes monthly in-person sessions at Atelier Kunstnerforbundet and group visits to exhibitions in and around Oslo. Most attendees work outside the art sector.

In 2026, Peer Review co-curated Kunstnerforbundet’s Juniutstillingen, Shifting Coordinates / Koordinater i bevegelse in Oslo, Norway.

Full exhibition pamphlet HERE