Sherwood’s Creative Lit and Art Club began last year, founded by senior Lilah Boig and led by students who are both talented and passionate about art. Not only does it shine because of its members, but the club also benefits from having an equally talented and passionate sponsor. Fine Arts teacher Nakeya Cook is not only a studio art teacher and the club’s sponsor, but a professional photographer.

Cook was inspired to pursue photography after her experiences looking through old family photo albums. Her passion flourished after taking a photography class her senior year of high school and winning a small award. After studying journalism and photography at Rutgers University, Cook worked in a studio in New York City and started her own projects.

“A lot of the themes [of my professional work] are centered around black womanhood, and beauty culture, and hair. And those works were inspired by my own hair journey, going natural in college in my early 20s, and the self-discovery that comes with being my truest, most authentic self,” explained Cook.” That’s how I came up with these ideas around  beauty culture and trying to expand on what’s considered beautiful and normative and doing that from my position as a young black woman at the time.”

As for her favorite things she’s done as a professional photographer, Cook notes both a shoot she has done for Essence Magazine and a series of still lifes titled “X-pressions: Black Beauty Still Lifes.”

Cook wanted to earn her master’s degree in fine arts so she could become a teacher. She cited the teacher shortage then as a reason for wanting to be a teacher. “I just thought that it was a really good fit for me to go into teaching, since I’m already making art about expressing yourself,” said Cook. “And I am really passionate about photography and I want other people to also have that passion. Education and teaching are a really good pairing for me, because I can do what I love and also share it with other people as well.”

Cook has really enjoyed interacting with students through the Creative Lit and Art club. “They have viewpoints that are so wide ranging that it’s like sitting in a library, a coffee shop, an art gallery, a fashion gallery…You just hear so many forward thinking perspectives. I love how the students in the club are really nonjudgmental and accepting and open,” she said. “The students are creative and they like to use creativity as a tool to be a better person. So how could you not want to be around students that do that?”