Funlola Coker is a sculptor from Lagos, Nigeria.
Funlola’s work follows research threads in the realm of recollection, imagination, and the surreal. Embracing the literary style of biomythography, Funlola builds narrative sculptures that call on nostalgic memories and moments of the mundane held dear. Liminal spaces are explored in the context of Yoruba cosmology and African Futurism. Using materials and techniques based in craft, these sculptures suggest dream-like spaces - half remembered, yet sacred.
Coker’s work has been exhibited at the Fuller Craft Museum, TONE Gallery, the National Ornamental Metal Museum, and a solo exhibition at Brooklyn Metal Works. Collections include Brooklyn Metal Works and the National Ornamental Metal Museum. In 2020, Coker received the Arts Memphis Arts Accelerator grant, and was a 2022 Thayer Fellowship recipient from the SUNY Rockefeller Institute of Government. Coker holds an MFA in Studio Art from the State University of New York at New Paltz and is currently the first Artist + Educator in residence at Montserrat College of Art.
Statement
As the broader umbrella of my work, Slippery Space|s is a convergence of storytelling, language and writing, craft, and historical research. It is an investigation of liminality through the lens of Yoruba cosmology and Africanfuturism. Within it, I build immersive installations of objects and sculptures that coordinate original autobiographical short stories, prose, and poetry.
In the Yoruba tradition, I tell stories through craft. My interests expand into installation and other sculptural media and through multiple genres. Embracing the literary style of biomythography, I craft stories of slippery, liminal spaces – dream-like and half-remembered, yet sacred. Through the immigrant lens, I consider how objects can transport the mind through time and nostalgia. For me, the act of chiseling, carving, and braiding are connected to memory. When contextualized into familiar forms or settings, they serve as portals. I explore personal and collective histories in order to understand how they hold power over us.
I work with sculptural installations that employ craft-based technologies. Texture is the foundation for my sculptures and a tether to past experiences. Using objects as a gateway into memories, I build vignettes and tableaus of familiar settings. I incorporate contemporary themes such as Africanfuturism, speculative fiction, and world-building to inform my narrative explorations. Though fictional, my sculptures reference functional objects and serve specific purposes in the slippery space – tools of navigation, devices, and shrines reside in the insatiable void of memory. To establish a direct connection to the Yoruba people, objects are crafted in metal – cast, electroformed, and fabricated; stone – chiseled and carved; plant fibers – knotted and braided. Ultimately, my objects and sculptures are supported by the larger narrative in my writing.