Merryn Alaka and Miguel Monzón Modified Arts Turns 20 and Looks Forward By Rembrandt Quiballo 12 <strong>JAVA</strong> MAGAZINE Photo: Rembrandt Quiballo
Miguel Monzón, “Searching” 20<strong>19</strong> As Roosevelt Row undergoes drastic changes, Modified Arts has been a bedrock, although not without going through its own evolution. Founded by longtime community leader Kimber Lanning, it embodies the spirit of downtown Phoenix in its ability to persevere and adapt. Modified Arts started out as a music and performance venue in <strong>19</strong>99 and transitioned to an art gallery in 2010. Local First Arizona and its offices took residence in the space in 2013, allowing the gallery to be open full time. In 2018, it went through renovations that would define the storefront gallery as what it is now. Through it all, Modified Arts has shown some of the best contemporary art in the Valley. This is thanks to the people who put in the hard work behind the scenes. It continues to evolve and looks to the future by entrusting its programming to two individuals with diverse backgrounds: Merryn Alaka, a transplant from the Midwest, and Miguel Monzón, a first-generation Mexican-American who grew up in Phoenix. As such a young city, Phoenix is not burdened with tradition like other major metropolitan areas. These two up-and-coming artists/curators in the local scene embody the forward thinking that Modified Arts has always been known for. Both fresh out of art school, they have been learning on the job, with a knowledge of the past and bright eyes toward the future. Merryn Alaka was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. Her Nigerian father was in the pharmacy program at Purdue University when he met her American mother, then studying nutrition and dietetics. They would marry and have three kids, with Merryn being the youngest. Her immediate family was more into the hard sciences than the creative arts. However, Alaka had an aunt, a practicing artist, who made an impression on her as an adolescent. “I didn’t have a direct art influence in my immediate family,” she said. “Growing up, I always wanted to be really close with my cool aunt. She is actually an artist. I definitely admired her – I thought she was really great. She mostly did collage-based work. I looked up to her and was inspired by her.” Alaka became even more interested in art when she attended a high school specializing in the arts. Eventually she would enter the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University. She was attracted to the quality of the program and the fact that it was far from home. She would be challenged by her professors to create work that she cared about. “I had a critique in class once,” she said. “My teacher just totally tore my work apart and was like, ‘This doesn’t even seem like something you’re passionate about.’ After that critique, I cried.” Alaka would grow as an artist in school by overcoming adversity. She would look within herself to examine what she was passionate about. Her father always had an appreciation for art, especially art from his hometown of Lagos, Nigeria, such as rugs and textiles. Alaka began exploring her heritage diligently and would be inspired to make work about her unique background. After her parents divorced, Alaka grew apart from her father, but her renewed interest in her family history rekindled their relationship. She would take old family photographs and incorporate them with African motifs, creating pieces that were aesthetically seductive but evocative of a deeper personal history. Being a transplant, Alaka was not yet aware of the thriving art scene in Phoenix and saw Modified Arts as a way to get involved. She started working at the gallery just as Miguel Monzón was taking over as director for the space. “Miguel and I, we get along <strong>JAVA</strong> 13 MAGAZINE
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