Research Emphasis
My research centers on “Haitian art” as a category constructed by expatriate and local intermediaries through complex transnational cultural dynamics that have informed the production, reception, and circulation of Haitian visual cultures and, by extension, those of other non-dominant groups in Africa and its Atlantic diasporas. I argue that socio-cultural circuits, particularly tourism-fueled international art markets and museum and gallery contexts, have dictated the movements of objects, people, and ideas among, and between, cultures. This research addresses gaps in existing literatures by contextualizing the art of Haiti/Haitians within a broader scope of visual cultures of the Afro-Atlantic. I take an interdisciplinary approach to the study of Haitian visual cultures by employing methodologies from Art History, Museum Studies, History, Critical Ethnographies, and Cultural and Performance Studies.
Curriculum Vitae
Professional Appointments
Assistant Professor of Art History, Centre College
2019
Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of African Art, Postdoctoral Research Fellow
2018-19
Education
Ph.D., Culture and Performance, Department of World Arts & Cultures/Dance
UCLA
Los Angeles, CA, 2017
Doctoral Dissertation: “No Word for ‘Art’ in Kreyòl: Haitian Contemporary Art in Transit”
M.A., Culture and Performance, Department of World Arts & Cultures/Dance, UCLA, 2013
B.A., Art History
Bard College
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, 2006
Publications
Manuscripts in Preparation
“Life in the Crossroads: Marilyn Houlberg and New Directions in Haitian Art.”
Book Review
Forthcoming. Bref regard sur deux siècles de peinture haïtienne (1804-2004) – Brief overview of two centuries of Haitian Painting (1804-2004), by Michel-Philippe Lerebours. Journal of Haitian Studies.
Web-Based Publications
2019 “Pioneering Women Photographers in Africa: Marilyn Houlberg,” Smithsonian Collections Blog. Smithsonian Institution. si-siris.blogspot.com/2019/04/pioneeringwomen-photographers-in.html
2017 “Tourism and Connoisseurship in the Collection Histories of Haitian Art in the United States,” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.013.389
Book Chapter
2017 “Contested Creativities in Haiti’s Ghetto Biennale,” Ghetto Biennale: 2009-2015 = Geto Byenal. No Eraser Publishing. 158-183.
Refereed Journal Articles
2016 “Contested Creativities in Haiti’s Ghetto Biennale,” Art & the Public Sphere. Intellect Publishing.
Encyclopedia Entries
2016 “Luckner Lazard” and “André Normil,” Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro-Latin American Biography. Oxford University Press.
Research & Teaching Interests
Haitian Art History
Latin American & Caribbean Art History
Museum & Curatorial Studies
Critical Ethnographies
Cultural & Performance Studies
Art & Markets
Languages
English, native speaking and writing
Haitian Kreyòl, competent speaking and writing
French, conversational speaking and writing
