Join us for a conversation with Tanzanian-Nigerian artist Marryam Moma. Moma’s work aims to empower and uplift the black experience. Clare and Moma will discuss the role of artists as culture makers capable of shifting public opinion and political realities.
Moma is a visual artist who holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Philadelphia. She melds a palette of repurposed hand-cut pieces, paper, and media together into fresh, layered imagery with new associations. Deconstructing images and then reintegrating them to create something new is an intuitive and ongoing visual experiment in which color, texture, balance, shape, and space come into play.
“At the core of my art practice, I aim to empower and uplift the black body, especially the black female body. Unveiling the magic within this race breaks collective contemporary stereotypes, thereby changing attitudes and perceptions of black women, and allowing society to rediscover her: powerful, complex, beautiful, revered, and valuable. My collages are focused on elevating the importance of the black experience and body.
Empowering that body through my work, I create collages within a rigorous subtractive process that is layered, detailed, textured, yet minimalist on delivery. Like a mystery, the composition evolves one piece at a time. I continue to edit and employ possible elements and media to complete the piece.
It is my intention to change the dynamics of how the black body is viewed in a society that is divisive versus inclusive. My work raises awareness that sparks discussions around traveling back inwards and making space for reconciliation with self and other. I ultimately hope to create a space in which the black body is celebrated.”