Current MFA Candidate J Taran Diamond Featured in Duo Exhibition “Braided Subtleties” During New York City Jewelry Week

Current MFA candidate J Taran Diamond is presenting work alongside New Paltz-based artist Funlola Coker in the two-person exhibition Braided Subtleties at Industry City as part of the fifth annual New York City Jewelry Week from November 14 – November 20, 2022.

In this exhibition, artists Diamond and Coker ruminate on the complex roles occupied by hair and braids within black communities. Through jewelry, objects, and sculptures, Diamond and Coker reflect on hair as a tether to the past and present, a means of tactile meditation, and a marker of belonging and shared experience within black identity.

Funlola is fascinated by the ways that braids can exist as adornment, as well as an investigation of lineage, code, language and nuance within culture. For Funlola, the symbol of the braid and braided hairstyles have become a bond to their home in Lagos, Nigeria – abstract forms are sculpted as wayfinders to a past beyond reach.

J Taran Diamond uses brightly colored braids to investigate the ambiguous space between body and ornament occupied by hair. Through this investigation, Diamond reflects on hair braiding as a uniquely black means of self-transformation and the intersection of black and queer identities.

Exhibition Dates

November 17 – November 20, 2022

12 PM – 6 PM

Diamond will also be a participant in three other exhibitions during New York City Jewelry Week, including Dream Machine at Industry City, Peaches in the Apple at the Pratt Institute Steuben Gallery, and Queerphoria presented online through NYCJW. 

Artist Bios

J Taran Diamond is an interdisciplinary craft artist, curator, and craft educator based in Athens, Georgia. They currently study and teach at the University of Georgia, and hold a BFA from the University of North Texas. Diamond’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including exhibitions at New York City Jewelry Week, Munich Jewelry Week, and the Czong Institute of Contemporary Art in Gimpo, South Korea. Outside of the studio, Diamond is an advocate for black people in academia, and works to help dismantle the systemic barriers that make higher education inaccessible to black people.

Funlola Coker is a metalsmith from Lagos, Nigeria. In 2007 Fun moved to Memphis, TN to pursue a BFA in Sculpture from Memphis College of Art. They are fascinated by history, the evolution of culture and storytelling. Fun creates works that call on nostalgic memories and moments of the mundane that are held dear. Coker has taught at notable craft institutions such as Snow Farm: The New England Craft Program and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Fun’s work has been exhibited at Brooklyn Metalworks, the Fuller Craft Museum, Tone Gallery in Memphis 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. She holds an MFA in Metal from the State University of New York at New Paltz.