Will to Adorn
Artwork photos courtesy of the artist
by Omolara Williams McCallister
Inkjet print on silk banner, 46x68 in.
GLB-2020-5
Acquired into the GLB Art Collection July 2020.
Photographic documentation of Will to Adorn performance.
Omolara Williams McCallister (pronouns: O /love/beloved) is a conceptual artist working primarily with fiber based mediums to produce adornments for spaces and bodies, using art as a tool for social change.
Omolara’s practice is deeply informed by O’s formative experiences growing up in Atlanta, Ga. Additionally O’s lived experiences of existing at the intersection of multiple non-dominant identities shape the content, research and intended audiences for O’s work. Omolara attended a public arts high school where O applied O’s knowledge of and experience with textiles to scenic and costume design while also studying music performance. Omolara’s transition from making functional and theatrical textile works to building conceptual, fine arts pieces came while O was working with Hank Willis Thomas as the National Community Engagement Coordinator for his project Question Bridge: Black Males. The content of Question Bridge pushed O to interrogate O’s own relationship to blackness and black communities as a poor black southern and a first generation biracial Nigerian American in the US today.
Omolara uses textiles, fibers, foraged and found objects to explore O’s identities and their social significance. Textiles are the perfect medium for this kind of meditation. In all of O’s lineages—African American, Yoruba, Creole, Southern US, Queer, woman—there are culturally and historically significant relationships between textiles and community. Textiles are physically and symbolically functional. They are a place where people construct and maintain memory, identity, history. The material textile object preserves and conveys critical bits of information about how to survive and what it means to be a part of a particular community.
Omolara is active as a community organizer, educator and facilitator. Omolara is the founder of Black Lives Matter DC, a local, DC based, and Black woman led grassroots organizing collective; and Black Crit Week, a biannual event that connects emerging Black artists to Black arts world professionals through one on one studio visits. Omolara is actively engaged in supporting local and regional organizing around urban farming, queer and trans libration, Black liberations, access to arts education and access to mental health care in Black communities.
Omolara Has exhibited work at the Gallery at Baltimore City Hall (Baltimore, MD), Cade Gallery (Arnold, MD), Center for Reconciliation (Providence, RI), Honfleur Gallery ( DC) and Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery (DC). Omolara has led workshops and lectures on art and social change for the US Department of State, George Washington University, Maryland Institute College of the Arts (MICA), Bowie State University and Howard School of Social Work, among others. Omolara is currently a MFA candidate in the MICA Community Arts program.