Photo by Kitty Aal

Paige Oyaleke 

Title: House of Masks
Directed by: Keegan Xavi and Mankwe Ndosi

Show Description:

House of Masks invites audiences to “The Porch,” where three Black queer ancestors come out to play through the Afro-diasporic cultural tradition of masquerade. Tricksters, sirens, and aunties share stories that call us to remember what is sacred for here and now. The space itself is an installation, a collage, and an altar — where your presence becomes participation, witnessing, and the completion of a circle.

Artist Bio:

Paige Oyaleke (they/them), is a transdisciplinary artist, cultural organizer, and birthworker based in Minneapolis and born in Detroit. Their current practice centers ritual and cultural masquerade, rooted in traditions of queer and Afro-diasporic ancestral healing. Paige works across performance, textile, and spiritual practice to re-member ways of being with the land, ancestors, and self.

Recent projects include Playing in the Street: A Community Study on Black Masquerades (Resource, Minneapolis, 2025) and Other Side House, an interactive installation created as a sanctuary for Black women, femmes, and gender non-conforming individuals. Paige earned a certificate in Masquerade Design, Construction, and Performance from Caribbean Yard Campus (2022) and a BFA in Theatre Arts Administration from Howard University.

They love snake plants, The Wiz, and fried catfish with spaghetti.

Additional Creative Team:

• Mankwe Ndosi – Song Catcher / Culture Worker of sound and soil; Resident Community Engaged Artist at PH+T, member of AACM-Chicago, and past Naked Stages artist. Her work supports interconnection and liberation through structures, practices, and mythologies.

• Keegan Xavi – Multimedia visual and performance artist, collage and documentary maker, and arts-based event producer. She is also the Engagement Director at Mudluk Pottery Studio and a landscape gardener, with a passion for history, research, and creative transformation.