Multidisciplinary artist Ọmọlará Williams McCallister joins us at the G.A.S. Farm House in Ikise for an eight-week residency as a recipient of the 2026 G.A.S. Fellowship Award. Based in Miami, Ọmọlará’s multifaceted practice spans textiles, craft, research and ecology. In Ọmọlará’s practice, ọ uses fibre in various forms to handcraft works that explore systems of power, ọ’s place within these systems, and how they shape social identities. By creating materials from plants, ọ uses them to create sculpture, interactive and immersive installations, and social practice works.
At the Farm House, Ọmọlará hopes to deepen knowledge of indigenous plants and their ethnobotanical importance across food, medicine, craft and spirituality. Ọmọlará also plans to learn traditional Yoruba recipes and develop an understanding of aso oke weaving and adire, including their tools, materials, patterns, motifs and techniques. As part of this research, Ọmọlará hopes to connect with practitioners and organisations across Lagos and beyond, including weavers in Iseyin, the University of Ibadan Botanical Garden, Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, CCA Lagos, Goethe-Institut Lagos and Akete Art Foundation. Ọmọlará also hopes to work with a local cook to learn traditional Yoruba recipes.
Ọmọlará’s residency is generously supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art. To find out more about supporting G.A.S. Foundation, click here.
Paper-making process. Photo: Blu Washington.
What is the current focus of your creative practice?
I'm building a speculative hyperlocal physical paper currency. I use foraged plants and food and textile waste to make paper currency. Instead of numerical values, each banknote’s value is designated by an illustration of a socially, economically, politically, and/or culturally important plant.
What drew you to apply for this residency and how do you think it will inform your wider practice?
My father is Yoruba. I've always wanted to build a relationship with his home culture and context, as well as with the culturally significant craft traditions that define it. It's very difficult to access knowledge about traditional Yoruba craft and plant culture from abroad. Most of the information that is available is filtered through a colonial lens or through an African imaginary projected onto Yoruba culture by African Americans.
Collected natural fibres and plant materials. Courtesy of the artist.
Can you give us an insight into how you hope to use the opportunity?
Through a combination of studio practice, field research, study with subject matter experts, and site visits, I hope to build foundational relationships with the plants, people, practices, and places that I can return to and continue developing over time.
About Ọmọlará Williams McCallister
Ọmọlará Williams McCallister is a Miami based artist who uses fiber in various forms to hand craft works that explore systems of power, Williams McCallister's place within these systems and how these systems shape ȯ's social identities. Ọmọlará has spent the last 5 years learning to create Ọmọlará’s materials from plants that are local to Ọmọlará. Now Ọmọlará uses the materials that Ọmọlará make from local plants to create sculpture, interactive & immersive installations, and social practice works that bring other people into conversation about how collective action can lead to collective care and mutual thriving. Ọmọlará holds certifications in hand weaving and hand papermaking. Ọmọlará completed residencies at Mass MOCA, Art PACE, Vermont Studio Center, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Monson Arts, and more. In 2024, Ọmọlará was a semifinalist for the Joan Mitchell Award and a finalist for a US Artists Fellowship.
Headshot of Ọmọlará Williams McCallister. Photo: Rob Ferrell.
