At Cornell University’s Johnson Museum of Art, Nigerian artist and poet Precious Okoyomon unveils a transformative new exhibition titled “The Sky Measures Little,” a three-part commission that merges sculpture, poetry, and ecology into a lyrical exploration of belonging and rebirth.
Installed across the Gold Gallery, Gussman Entrance Hall, and the museum’s exterior, the exhibition deepens Okoyomon’s meditation on migration, colonialism, and the natural world. At its heart lies “Theory of a Curve,” a living earthwork of wildflowers—both native and invasive—growing together in radiant harmony. The artist describes it as a vision of “a new form of utopia,” where forgotten, unwanted plants coexist as symbols of resilience and joyful inclusion.
Inside, “Horizontal Cosmology” creates a “library for pollination,” inviting visitors to sip tea brewed from the same plants used outdoors while engaging with poetry and philosophical texts. In “The Self Grows Forward Out of Its Reference,” Okoyomon’s sculptures fuse African, European, and Japanese influences into abstract forms of self-discovery and liberation.
Curated by Gemma Rodrigues, the project extends Okoyomon’s mission to unearth beauty in displacement—offering a radical, tender reimagining of what it means to belong in an interconnected world.
