Have you ever been to the sweaty basement of a house show, a chic gallery opening or a movie screening packed with film bros and been too intimidated to speak to the artist themselves? If so, then welcome to Coffee with Creatives, a column dedicated to exploring the on-campus and local arts scene, all while platforming the artists’ voices.
For the first installment of this column, I actually had tea with this week’s creative rather than coffee. The irony is not lost on me. But singer-songwriter Mofe Akinyanmi makes a mean cup of tea, and I just couldn’t resist.
As I watched her craft an array of dried flowers and herbs, carefully passing the tea from cup to pot to cup in order to “aerate” it, I couldn’t help but admire the meticulous attention she gave to her creation.
It’s only fitting that Akinyanmi applies this complexity to her work as a musician.
As a fourth-year Tufts/NEC dual degree student and a member of the popular Tufts band Chowder, Akinyanmi is deeply familiar with the various arts scenes on campus — including at the SMFA. While she doesn’t consider herself a visual artist, she pulls much inspiration from such conceptual artmaking:
“Their way of thinking is very different to how we’re taught music and music theory,” Akinyanmi said. “It feels like the things that they make are in dialogue with each other — kind of like making folklore of yourself.”
Akinyanmi drew inspiration from a recent SMFA exhibit for her latest single, “pretty little thing,” which came out on Jan. 28.
Whether under her stage name kinya or as herself, Akinyanmi has participated in numerous projects that incorporate multimedia art.
“I’m collaborating with three artists from Nigeria to send sculptures over that are going to be a part of a sound installation,” Akinyanmi said. “[It’s] making me think more about connections, and it’s exciting to have their art here and give other people the opportunity to see it.”
Akinyanmi’s Nigerian identity has played a strong role in her artistic process, inviting conversations about colonialism and the preservation of Nigerian contemporary art. A grant from the Entrepreneurial Musicianship program at the NEC is allowing her to explore these ideas further.
“Colonialism has interrupted the narratives around African countries … so the development of contemporary art has had a gap in it,” she said. “What does it mean to show Nigerian identity in art, especially when it comes to music?”
Akinyanmi will work on reconciling these issues in her grant project, a performance called “Akugbe-igi.” The word means “fossilization” in Yoruba, a language native to Nigeria.
Among other projects, including an ExCollege class and a capstone project, Akinyanmi is working on more music. She hopes to release an EP in the next year.
Despite her easy laughter and humble demeanor, Akinyanmi is marked by a hard-working and resilient ambition — one that isn’t afraid to have “big, hairy audacious goals.”
As she so aptly put it: “It’s possible to do things, even if you think you can’t.”
Correction: This article was updated to correct the name of Akinyanmi's project and the destination of the sculptures in the sound installation. These corrections were made on Feb. 16.
