Art, in any form, should speak to the people and for the people. Art can be a rally cry from the canvas, an expression of beauty, struggle, love, and admiration, or a time capsule captured with a stroke. Nina Simone said it best, “An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times.”
For Black curators like Dr. Ashley James, the Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Guggenheim Museum, “the role of a curator is to research, preserve, and exhibit works of art for the enrichment of the public. It means playing close attention to artists, what and why they make work – and then determining how to best communicate the meaning of these works.”
The NYC native and daughter of Jamaican parents knows what it’s like to navigate the curator space as a Black woman. She is the first Black curator to work at the Guggenheim full-time.
“I think the art world reflects the very same racial, gender, national, etc. biases that determine other institutional formations,” said James. “So, of course as a Black woman I’ve had to navigate imposed expectations and deliberate occlusions. That being said, I’ve been fortunate to find great collaborators across all the demographic spectrum — especially alongside the colleagues with whom I’ve been able to co-curate shows and co-lead groups.”
Black Curator
With an administration built on diminishing the Black existence, Black art is in a state of attack. At the beginning of this year, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14151, titled “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing.” It was a haymaker to the face of Black artists and creatives who depend on key funding and programs to exist.
As written by Kelli Morgan in a piece called, Trump’s Executive Orders Are a Direct Threat to Black Art, History, and Truth,” “By imposing federal control over the Smithsonian museums—specifically targeting the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC)—this order seeks to rewrite history through a white supremacist lens.”
The Black Art Movement of the 60s and 70s was instrumental in establishing the Black identity, reclaiming Black expression, and rebelling against the status quo. It challenged Eurocentric norms, making it a target for oppressors. Recently, a Black Lives Matter mural, painted in 2020 during the pandemic, on a street a jog away from the White House, has been removed. It’s one of many acts to silence our history. At the intersection of Black art and politics, there is a government eager to dismantle the institutions that protect sacred work. Despite the danger that lurks under the guise of misused political power, Black people are resilient.
All of which is why James’ passion for curating runs deep through her veins. “I’ve loved many exhibitions but perhaps a show that very clearly changed my life would Soul of A Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power. Curated by Zoe Whitley and Mark Godfrey for the Tate Modern, Soul of A Nation toured the U.S. including a stop in Brooklyn. I organized the Brooklyn Museum iteration — my first task upon starting at the museum in fact — and it was a wonderful experience in terms of the organizational process and the exhibition itself. I learned so much about making shows and the artists in that show continue to inform my thinking about contemporary art more broadly.”