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The Arts Intel Report

Precious Okoyomon: The Sun Eats Her Children

Installation view of “Precious Okoyomon: The Sun Eats Her Children,” 2023.

July 13 – Sept 15, 2023
Via dei Vascellari, 69, 00153 Roma RM

Over the last two years or so, the Nigerian-American artist and poet Precious Okoyomon has been knee deep in greenery. Every few months, they transform the roof of a museum, using a mixture of sculpture and plants to address different themes. For the hot Roman summer, Okoyomon and local growers have gathered plants deemed invasive and even dangerous—honeysuckle, white dogwood, red roses—and placed them in a deconsecrated chapel. “I wanted a lot of poisonous plants,” the artist told The Art Newspaper. This botanical takeover of space and resources is an allegory for human stories of invasion and colonization. A sound effect of an extended scream hits the air every 10 minutes. —Elena Clavarino

Photo courtesy of Sant’Andrea de Scaphis, Rome