Funlola Coker in Boston Globe

Montserrat’s Artist and Educator in Residence, Funlola Coker, was recently profiled in the Boston Globe! The Globe profile comes shortly after a busy October, where Coker was awarded the $15,000 Boston Artadia Award.

The piece, written by Cate McQuaid and photographed by Lane Turner, is briefly excerpted below, and the whole story can be read at BostonGlobe.com.

The sculptures Funlola Coker makes spring from her childhood in Lagos, Nigeria, and her Yoruban heritage.
“It’s looking at a memory through touch,” she told the Globe during a studio visit at the Boston Center for the Arts. “We do that with food, with taste and smell. It makes sense that you would be able to do that with texture.”

Coker, who won a $15,000 Boston Artadia Award from the nationwide nonprofit Artadia in October, isn’t simply a sculptor. Her pieces have prompted her to write a mythic narrative and to create a Yoruba alphabet that’s based on gestures made in the Indigenous dance Bata.
“They don’t necessarily all have to work together at the same time or in the same way,” she said. “But I’m finding that they do.”
…
Advice for artists: “Being able to persist through all the challenges is key,” she said. “Finding people who will tell you not to give up, because that’s always in the back of your mind, especially in the beginning. Know that your contribution to the world is valid.”