Courtyard Commission: Precious Okoyomon

The Courtyard Commission series is a major new program that invites an artist to transform the museum’s courtyard. For the inaugural Courtyard Commission, Precious Okoyomon (Nigerian-American, b. 1993) will produce a living forest featuring a large-scale, interactive bear sculpture—the artist’s signature motif—which resembles an oversized children’s toy. The forest, developed in collaboration with the nursery issima, will grow into an ever-morphing woodland of trees, exotic flowers, weeds, and boulders. Visitors are invited to venture into the bear’s body, where they can experience a multi-sensory installation before exiting through its mouth.