Shantay Robinson
Photograph by Zuri Stanback
I met Marryam Moma when she was a Garden Fellowship recipient with TILA Studios, an art incubator for Black women artists in Atlanta. Through TILA, I taught an artist statement and bio workshop. Marryam was outstanding for her dedication to her craft. It is so rewarding to see that the help I provided her with art writing documents, pivotal to her life, has brought her to where she is now, with a solo exhibition under her belt. I see great things happening for Marryam because not only is she talented, she’s also very wise. As she elevates her craft, she offers some sage advice for artists who are developing their professional careers.
Shantay Robinson: How did you fall in love with artmaking?
Marryam Moma: Oh, wow. Just, I mean, I feel like I've always meant to do it. I come from a family of creatives. My mother is an architect practicing over 40 years now at this point, my sister studied interior architecture and another one of my siblings is self-taught doing interior design in Africa. So, this has kind of been in my blood, so to speak. I studied architecture and collage, specifically analog. Collage was one of the processes that I use to complete my building design projects. So, in terms of like a brainstorming activity, that's definitely one of the tools that I use to complete projects in college. And I went to Tyler School of Art Temple University, Philadelphia.
SR: You went to school for architecture, but you ended up being artists? How did that happen?
MM: With regard to just collageing to brainstorm ideas, to complete school projects, I literally fell in love with it. And up until the point where I realized I was in a space where, you know, for me, as a Black woman, I was the 1% of the Black women in my program and in my architecture design program. And then I was also 1% of the African, fully African Black women in my program. Just based on the questions from my peers around my heritage, around my nationality, around you know, things, for me, that were fairly important, I decided to start telling Black stories. It didn't become, I would say, a professional practice up until 2016. And I went to Temple from 2001 to 2005. For a very long time, it was a hobby, a place to find solace, a place to just create and rejuvenate, if you will. And as soon as I moved to Atlanta, after many, many circles around the Earth, I would say New York was one of the big stops for me, I lived there over a decade, I lived in Shanghai, and then I moved to Atlanta in 2016. And I was like, okay, let's do this as a profession. And that's really when I would say, officially, when my collage journey as an artist started in 2016.
SR: What's your favorite part of being an artist?
MM: I think it's being able to tell stories and reimagining stories around Black life. My work is very heavily centered around Black joy, highlighting Black joy. Not to say that, you know, speaking about trauma or historical events is not important. But I'm not one to regurgitate pain and trauma. I would rather talk about hopeful things. I would rather reimagine futures. I would rather reimagine even stories of the past, if I were to dive into historical aspects of my work and my practice, it's really kind of like a way forward that uplifts and empowers specifically black women.
SR: Is your collage work mostly about Black women?
MM: It is. 80% of the time I am speaking about Black women in my life. I also talk about generational wealth. I talk about financial freedom. I talk about positivity, higher consciousness in the work, there's a certain level of spirituality that goes into that. I strongly believe, what we think is what we manifest. So, my practice really follows that doctrine. And even when I do speak about conflict or trauma, it's really as a foundation and then it takes off into a more positive space.
SR: What do you think is most challenging about being an artist?
MM: I think for me, I would say a little bit easier, and I'm getting better and better every day. But it's the business of the art. I think what separates the successful artists from, you know, I don't want to say mediocre, I don't think that's the word. But emerging or a hobbyist, if you will, is really how you are making or building those bridges around the business of the art. I could be sequestered away in my studio creating nonstop for years but how do I introduce the works to the world? How do I place in permanent collections? How do I negotiate? How do I, you know, sign on for public art projects that I'm really passionate about? I think that's where the delta is, bridging that gap and building relationships and making sure that we have a pulse check on not just our local communities, but internationally, especially for an artist like me that wants to show outside of my current living environment in Atlanta. It's very important to network, make those connections and definitely to nurture more organic relationships and intentionally put your work in front of people that it deeply resonates with. And it's the business of the art at the end of the day.
SR: If you can name one moment, what would be your career highlight?
MM: My solo exhibition “Iconoclast.” That was incredibly humbling, and yet satisfying and beautiful. It opened July 28, and closed September 8. I got an invitation from the Fulton County Aviation Museum here in Atlanta. Full circle moment. At the beginning of the year, I was awarded a residency and a stipend as a distinguished fellow for Fulton County Arts. And that was the project that I was working on. So, in a full circle moment, it was really, really good to see the work, all 28 pieces for “Iconoclasts” hang and shared, and go into the homes. I sold 60% of the work on opening night and that was incredible. Well, yeah, I'm so thankful for that. Yeah.
SR: Why do you work in the medium you've chosen?
MM: There are so many reasons I work with paper, the texture the smell of it, the look of it, the finishing, it's malleable, it's flexible. There are so many things that I can convey on paper. 90% of the time the work that I complete is cut paper. But I will add other contrasting textures maybe gold leaf and gold acrylic paint. Sometimes I'm doing watercolor or color pencils to convey my message, but paper in itself is very easy to work with. And very expressive to work with. I feel like I have a master control over the medium that I've chosen at this point. Definitely still room to grow.
SR: Definitely always room to grow. Who's your art inspiration?
MM: I have several. Some of them are architects. Some of them are collagists, some of them are painters, Romare Bearden comes to mind. Lorna Simpson comes to mind. Mickalene Thomas comes to mind. Deborah Roberts comes to mind. Frank Lloyd Wright, Alexander Calder, David Adjaye, Phil Freeland. So, these are creatives that really have helped for me to shape my design choices. Of course, I'm not copying and pasting, but reading their stories, their references, getting a better understanding about material intelligence, and even emotional materiality in terms of why they choose and use certain elements in the work has really helped inform the way I make decisions in design.
SR: So, when do you find time to create your art with all the business that needs to be done?
MM: It's staying organized, right, Shantay, it's taking time to rest and not getting to the point where I feel burnout. It's really just planning ahead. Family is extremely important to me. So, I don't mess around with my family vacations. I definitely make sure to take time to be present, especially for my 18-month-old son Ebric. For my husband, Kevin. And then I think for me, I've found myself now in a space where I've been empowered to create. Kevin is my biggest cheerleader. In 2016, I mean, he started at a very long time, even before we got married. We were friends for about six years or so before we got married. And just being on that journey with me being a great support system like asking the hard questions pushing me to do better to do more. And when you find yourself as an artist in an environment that's welcoming to your art, it's not in competition with anything, that's really empowering. I have two studios in the city, you know, it allows me to work in the center of it. It's like minutes away from Mercedes Benz Stadium. So, when I need to be there to create, to have meetings to meet people, like I said, to negotiate and even sell work, I can do that. And then I have a home studio that rolls off my master bed. And actually, my husband and I bought this house specifically for that reason. So, talk about, like really empowering me to give me a space to continue my work. As an artist, he met me as an artist and has only lifted me up to make sure that that continues to be a central part of my life, you know. And then it's just organization day to day booking things, carving out the time to have a studio practice. It's like any business. I take it like, I'm clocking into work, like, I was working for someone else. But more importantly, I'm working for myself. And this is the commitment I've made. I'm working a certain number of hours during the week. I tend to see those hours increase when I have projects and deadlines. But of course, I'm also creating throughout, so that really helps to, you know, keep things in balance, as well.
SR: Why is art making important to you?
MM: For so many reasons, it's legacy. And not just for me and my family. It's the stories that are important as well. It's giving people, the viewer, the observer, a different perspective on black life. It's showing that we rest, that we enjoy luxury, that at some point, we even want to be frivolous. And we should be. We should be given the space to do that. We should be given the space to be vulnerable. We should be given the space to be happy. And those stories, those themes, sisterhood, family hoods, those are extremely important in my work. I want to leave a legacy behind to tell stories around Black life that empowers future generations to see a different way of doing life, whatever that may be, or look like for their time, right? So, I'm looking into the future and creating pieces that move the needle in terms of agency, in terms of what Black bodies can do moving forward. Not just for me as an artist, but even specifically, in those stories. I have a series called “The Human/ Cyborg Series: Black Existentialist Futures.” It's centered around Black existentialist futures, where I reimagined the black body as part human and part cyborg. And the one of the primary reasons I did that is to give space for that Black body to be vulnerable and soft and really feel empowered and strengthened. So, when you see those images, they look like superheroes. There's like 14 images in that series. One of them includes the current curator of The High Museum of Art. She's the curator of African art, Lauren Tate Baeza. That's one of the very first pieces I did. It was very important for me to kick off that project in that way, because at the time, when she got hired she was the first Black curator of African art in a city like Atlanta at The High Museum in the first 116 years. So, that was paramount for me to tell that story but again, you know, we go back to the foundation of being really positive and celebratory around that. When you see it it's very energetic it's really powerful. She looks like a superhero. She is definitely a path paver even if she were to switch roles. I would think now that because it's been done and done excellently well. She's done so many wonderful things with the High that decision makers there know that it's possible to have a Black body in such a prominent position.
SR: So, what is it typical day for you as an artist. What does that look like?
MM: It's morning time meditating, praying with my family and then getting ready for daycare, getting him in by nine o'clock. I'm in front of my computer, responding to emails handling the business of the art, making sure people have received invoices, and payments have come in. I'm refreshing my website, if it's a big overhaul, I might need more than one hour, two hours, but generally just checking the things that are working. Looking in on my business-to-business affiliates or collaborations, and then I go into the studio. I probably will work for about five to six hours. I'll take a lunch break, I'll go back in, I might take a walk in between for 20 minutes. But at the end of the day, you know, my day ends at about five, six o'clock, when Ebric comes home. I spend time with him. We have our bedtime routine. He goes to bed fairly early. So, Kevin and I have time to reconnect for the day. We try not to talk about work. He's generally interested about art. He is in cybersecurity. So, we don't really touch on that very much, except if it's something that's very pertinent for him. And I'm okay with that. And he's comfortable in that. I might show him some work that's in concept, or, you know, design stages where I've already started the project while I'm almost in completion before glueing things down. And then we kind of personally close the day. And that's pretty much my day to day.
SR: What advice would you give to someone who was on the fence about making their art practice a professional art practice?
MM: Really, the most important question as I grow older, I'm moving from the spectrum of emerging artists. I would say, I'm always emerging. I'm always learning. I'm always growing. But in terms of the way that word is used within the art industry in the canon, I would say you need to really be strong about your why. If it is monetary driven, if its revenue driven, I don't think that is reason enough to want to shift into a professional practice because I feel like your heart wouldn't be in the right place. And then asking what stories do I want to tell? How do I want to empower people? And maybe it's not even about empowerment in specific work for certain peers? Whatever messaging that is, how best can they represent their passion, and bring people into the story, allow the viewer to find themselves in the nuances of their design, and their work. And really, you know, fall in love with it. Don't do it for money driven reasons for sure.