https://www.merrynalaka.com/portfolio daily 0.75 2025-04-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/1574987986785-7ZJ4W688L2TGMLZNRDD6/Alaka_Merryn06.jpg Portfolio - America(nah) Hand cut brass and kanekalon hair 17”x8” appx 2019 When reflecting on the objects, materials, or traits associated with an American identity there is a vastness and variety of mementos that connect us to our histories here. Collective terms like the one Americana neglect to encompass the complexities of the history of the Americas and the cultural diversities. By using jewelry in an exaggerated form and hair as a chain of connection, the piece relies on these two forms of adornment to recreate a narrative of not only what it means to be American, but also what it means to be black in America. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/1574988267501-IHJ635BDY7ZW7V53LWLT/MixedBaby2.jpg Portfolio - Not Your Mixed Baby Fetish Handcut brass 6”x2” 2019 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/1574988558964-MMCGDVAL3RK6SMWM7JRD/LaMisma+.jpg Portfolio - La Misma 4”x6” 2018 Made in collaboration with Sam Fresquez and Audrey Ruiz La Misma is calligraphy cut from sterling silver. The passage is a line from the poem “But” by Audrey Ruiz, a peer of ours. “I can’t speak Spanish, pero sé que la misma sangre de mis antepasados latinos corre por mis venas.” In English this translates to “I can’t speak Spanish, but I know that the same blood of my Latino ancestors runs through my veins”. In this piece we wanted to look at the history of the Spanish language in the United States and start the discussion of how Spanish is taught and learned in the US when it was something that was forcibly taken out of the education system for generations. Also, what does it mean to be a non-Spanish-speaking Latino? (Collaboration with Artist Sam Fresquez) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/1561955393845-ODUAD8U2NKFQLD705LHC/Alaka3.jpg Portfolio - "Its Mine, I Bought It" Kanekalon hair and braid clamps. Collaboration with Sam Fresquez 2018 The tassel is a symbol of power and prestige. As a decorative object it has historically been used to embellish garments, and has been worn by priests, monks, and military officers to differentiate hierarchy while simultaneously warding off evil spirits. As a functional object, tassels are used to prevent unraveling. Similarly, we often view our hair as having the ability to hold us together. As young Black and Latina women we have been made aware that there is an expectation that must be met regarding the presentation of our hair. The extent to which hair is maintained can often be read as a reflection of other aspects of life. This work ties together the chronology, wisdom and adornment that is present in the history of both hair and tassels. Photographed by: Josh Loeser https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/1574990733016-R468LVG7UPDMHXKPRQ4L/Alaka%2CMerryn_03.jpg Portfolio - Arikewuyo Street Stone Lithograph 22”x30” 2018 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/1574998395982-YK18H6KL9D3IZ4YCQ8A4/Alaka_Merryn05.jpg Portfolio - Iya Iya Stone Lithograph with laser cut boarder 18”x24” 2018 Iya Iya memorializes my great grandmother Wosilatu, her ever expanding floral print serves to be symbolic of family lineage and tradition passed down through generations. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/1591304060432-KYH5RG1S6D6FQY5PUOBG/%28Merryn+Alaka%29+Mama+Benz.jpg Portfolio - Mama Benz Rings Brass rings The term ‘Mama Benz’ was coined in the mid 50’s as woman in West Africa made their mark trading wax fabrics. These woman used their wealth to buy their own Mercedes Benz cars, a representation of wealth and success at the time. These rings pay homage to those woman, and to woman today hustling in every corner of the world. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/1594185947035-PKE8381955P5WCDHJAXH/Alaka_Merryn-4.jpg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/1595213536887-AF66BYMDI1ORZ6FIWA95/IMG_4809.jpg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/1605249422205-18B26Q712BJVAEYVALUL/IMG_6473.jpg Portfolio In Memory memorializes over 300 Black lives lost due to police violence from 1998-2020 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/1624567511310-MG27LBMVITFPN5ZKO0YF/_DSC6608.jpg Portfolio - Double Take Black Kanekalon Hair, Gold Braid Cuffs https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/1624571446445-2XEDBVUXFUSPR2DVE459/_DSC6800.jpg Portfolio - Snatched! Pony Beads, Kanekalon Braiding Hair https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/1632603886106-TGINRT8LB4L7F32DX9P7/LeadWithYourLooks-2.jpg Portfolio - Lead With Your Looks Kanekalon Hair and Pony Beads Lead With Your Looks is part of a series of tapestry like sculptures made from synthetic braided hair and pony beads to create intricate patterns that tell stories, signify identity, and explore stages of grief. Hair braiding in Black culture simultaneously serves as a form of adornment and protection against the structurally fragile nature of Black hair, hence the name “protective style.” Pony beads evoke a sense of childlike nostalgia, bringing one back to a time of innocence and vulnerability, a mindset desired in the face of trauma and grief. In a society that restricts women’s self-expression through misogynistic narratives the phrase Lead With Your Looks is reclamation of power, allowing women to take back ownership of their bodies, sexual power, and autonomy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/1675369540689-WR7TLXYJ42CB937PRM4J/20221012-DSCF2502.jpg Portfolio Photo credit: David Blakeman Commissioned by The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, these site-specific wallpaper designs were created for In Our Time: Selections from the Singer Collection, curated by Allison Glenn, senior curator of New York’s Public Art Fund. Inspired by Old Powderglass Beads from West Africa, these wallpaper designs playfully re imagine the over 200 year old glass beadmaking technique utilized by the Krobo people of Ghana. Old Powderglass beads were traditionally made from European trade beads that had been crushed and used to form the exteriors of the beads. Their intricate and varied patterns served as ornamentation and a symbol of power for the wearer. Used both in rituals and ceremonies, their history verged magical and mythical and some believed that these beads are something like beings or have spirit. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/1675367008625-8TPZMPCI9FGBEGFSSZ0U/_DSC3570.jpg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/1675370903926-OHELQ343EWBIDWLOKQYU/_DSC3501.jpg Portfolio Made in collaboration with Sam Frésquez Photo credit: Josh Loeser Future Artifacts is a series comprised of three sets of wooden combs. The combs in each set are designed and fabricated to fit together as a whole. In this work, Merryn Omotayo Alaka and Sam Frésquez are interested in looking at the brush and combs as technologies that have not and will not evolve overtime because of the simplicity and efficiency of their design. These objects simultaneously connect us to both past and future generations through rituals of grooming and ornamentation. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/1675370233827-YHDK73E8U4OYDUCX6H2U/My+Fathers+House+_Detail.jpg Portfolio Photo credit: Jess Lawrie https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/1675374377887-WL6OLE7VLJP90SZIR6EA/DSC06992-2.jpg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/1743965723669-5LJ54PWBJXTDBXHIXCJC/Merryn+Alaka_01.jpg Portfolio - How many time do we have to mark this vessel for it to remember what it is? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/1743966962543-3X4CTTZ2N5ISYJPFEFBI/MERRYNALAKA-02.jpg Portfolio - We come to this space to hold, to bare, to witness https://www.merrynalaka.com/home daily 1.0 2023-02-02 https://www.merrynalaka.com/contact daily 0.75 2024-03-15 https://www.merrynalaka.com/about daily 0.75 2025-03-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/f9f9b8d9-f5a6-44da-9bdb-049e671eb80d/IMG_3988.jpg About - Bio Merryn Omotayo Alaka (b. 1997, Indianapolis, Indiana) is a Nigerian and American artist whose work spans across sculpture, installation, performance, and fiber practices. Her interdisciplinary sculptural practice incorporates metal fabrication, bronze casting, fiber, found objects, sound, and ready-made materials. Using materials and objects as a form of "allegory" or symbolism, Alaka examines the constructs and fluidness of blackness, time, memory, and history– ideas that have been shaped by societal structures and colonial histories. Alaka's creative practice explores how Black diasporic histories and traditions are preserved across generations, oftentimes working with materials and processes that serve as vessels for collective memory. Alaka locates her work at the intersection of Black material culture, family archives, and West African mythologies. Reconstructing found and inherited objects and textiles such as Mercedes Benz car parts, Yoruba Agbadas, Nigerian leather mats, and African headrests along with stories true and imagined, she creates visual language and landscapes that make space for contemplation and meditation. At its core, Alaka’s creative practice offers up a critical space for the sharing and exchange of narratives, histories, and futures that are in a constant state of flux. Alaka will graduate in spring of 2025 with a MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has exhibited work at institutions such as the Phoenix Art Museum, the Tucson Museum of Art, the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington. She is the recipient of a fully funded scholarship from the School of the Art Institute and in 2022 was awarded the emerging artist grant from the Phoenix Art Museum. Additionally she was nominated for the AICAD post graduate teaching fellowship and was awarded the 2025 MASS MoCA Residency Fellowship, which was fully sponsored by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work is currently represented by Lisa Sette Gallery. https://www.merrynalaka.com/curated daily 0.75 2020-06-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/1591421994577-C2LN0TZ3I5EJ0UMCRO5O/IMG_1573%2Bcopy.jpg Curated Projects - ORACLES OF THE OTHER Oracles of the Other foretells the myriad ways in which blackness hopes to exist outside of the bounds of Western stereotypes, where race and gender become fluid, and oppression and social inequalities are transcended through the lens of Afrofuturistic themes such as escapism, time travel, and ritualism. Afrofuturism refers to the cross- disciplinary genre that combines science-fiction, afrocentrism, fantasy, African mythology, and technology as a creative and intellectual strategy to reimagine and recreate the distraught past, present, and future of the black diaspora. The work of 7 artists travels outside the boundaries of places of belonging and within the Otherness by exploring narratives that repurpose the past to tell stories about ambivalent futures. Artist include: Granville Caroll, AJ McClenon, Mahari Chabwera, Tay Butler, Qualeasha Wood, Bee Spiderman, Jasilyn Anderson. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a2b1567be42d6d701372258/1562020954440-11OS0HYXXM2S8PDEJEIE/AMERICANA_POSTCARD+FRONT.jpg Curated Projects - AMERICANA XXIII.I by Briana Noble https://www.merrynalaka.com/resume daily 0.75 2025-04-06