The Black Curator Author Event

We are delighted to celebrate Kemuel Benyehudahis's new book The Black Curator at Source Booksellers. We are ending Black History Month with a eye on Black History in the museum space. We will also get up update on the Motown Museum's latest exhibit and related programs. This will be a rich conversation for those interested in Black History, Art History and Musuem History and Social Jusitce.

About the Book:

The Black Curator highlights the role that Black curators have long played in advocating for black artists and social changes and argues that they made a significant contribution to the democratization of museums over the last 150 years.

Drawing on oral testimonies and archival research, this book examines how black curatorial activist practices emerged as a social and imaginative response to racism across various museum contexts. Exploring the work of black curators at three different museums, Benyehudah traces a lineage from black curators in the 19th century to those currently working in curatorial roles. Analysis of these case studies and the use of ideas from museum studies, critical race theory, and art history also enable the author to demonstrate how black curatorial practice was and is distinct from Eurocentric forms of curating black art. Explaining that the black curatorial lens was used in the process of establishing counter‑archives, the author also demonstrates that it has played – and continues to play – a vital role in the decolonization of museums.

Kemuel Benyehudahis a Detroit-based independent curator, researcher, and doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania who has curated several exhibitions for the Motown Museum, including "Claudette Robinson - A Motown Her-Story". His work focuses on Black curators, music, and education, with a new bookThe Black Curator: Activists for Representation, and Decolonization of Museums.

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