Please join Shola Cole aka Pirate Jenny for a special dinner/artist talk gathering at the Newark Public Library as a part of the Our Newark Futures series with the Price Institute at Rutgers University-Newark. Cole (they/themme & she/hers) is a inter/anti disciplinary performance artist and Afro-Caribbean/UK born immigrant. An artist, adult learner, neuro-queer and youthfully mature being exploring their gender non-conforming edges – Cole explores radio, movement, drawing, figure modeling and recently QT/BIPOC land stewardship within her time traveling tool wearing avatar, Pirate Jenny (PJ).

Rooting their work around the “othered” body in service to capitalism and its “systemic grind” and contortions – Cole deepens their art life practice by layering justice in QT/BIPOC farming while integrating newly acquired skills in the trades. In an ongoing response to ndoing the colonial foundations in their upbringing, She is envisions ‘A Vanderful Life’; a reimagining of community that centers nomadic, mobile design uplifting art and viably radical food futures in QT/LGBIA2+/BIPoC agriculture. Cole is currently working on ‘Till the Othered BAWDY, a piece exploring food access, apartheid and the body through use of Pirate Jenny’s time travel tools.

Cole has navigated numerous capitalist systems including US citizenship and the college/art school industrial complex. Later in life she completed a Bachelors of General Studies (Arts & Humanities focus); minoring in Women’s Studies from UConn. Cole subsequently received a Masters of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies from Mount Royal School of Art at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). She is a 2024-2025 Franklin Furnace FUND winner, happily tracking in farm dirt through Artlife Kingston and Three Phase. Cole is also an alum of Farm School NYC, Soul Fire and Rock Steady Farms, RubyFruit Acapella and BAX’s EmergeNYC.

www.piratehaterjenny.com