Visiting Curator Series: Naima J. Keith
About the Curator
Flux Projects is pleased to present curator Naima J. Keith at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center. The Flux Projects Visiting Curator Series invites esteemed national and international curators to conduct studio visits with Atlanta-based artists. The goal for the program is to generate exposure and opportunity for area artists and cultivate broader recognition for Atlanta’s vibrant and innovative arts community. During their visit, each curator also presents a public program.
Naima J. Keith is the newly appointed Vice President of Education and Public Programs at LACMA. From 2016 – 2019, Keith was the Deputy Director and Chief Curator at the California African American Museum (CAAM) where she was tasked with guiding the curatorial and education departments as well as marketing and communications. During her tenure at CAAM, Keith also curated several exhibitions, including Hank Willis Thomas: Black Righteous Space (2016), Genevieve Grignard: Smell the Roses (2016) Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle: The Evanesced (2017) and Gary Simmons: Fade to Black (2017–8). She was the 2017 recipient of the David C. Driskell Prize in recognition of her contributions to the field of African American art history and is co-artistic director of Prospect.5 in New Orleans in 2020.
Previously an associate curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem (2011–16), her notable exhibitions include: Rodney McMillian: Views of Main Street (2016),Artists in Residence 2014–2015 (2015), Samuel Levi Jones: Unbound (2015), Titus Kampar (2014), Glenn Kino (2014), and Robert Pruitt (2013), The Shadows Took Shape (co-curated with Zoe Whitley, 2013), Fore (co-curated with Lauren Haynes and Thomas J. Lax, 2012). Her historical survey, Charles Gaines: Gridwork 1974–1989 (2014), traveled to the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, CA spring 2015 and was nominated in 2014 for a “Best Monographic Museum Show in New York” award by the International Association of Art Critics (AICA-USA). Between 2008–11, Keith worked in the curatorial department at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, serving as the primary contact for the groundbreaking exhibition Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles 1960–1980, organized by guest curator Kellie Jones. She has lectured at the Soma Contemporary Art Center, Columbia University, The Museum of Modern Art, LACMA, USC, MCA Denver, and Brooklyn Museum. Her essays have been featured in publications for The Studio Museum in Harlem, Hammer Museum, Perez Art Museum Miami, LAXART, MoMA PS1, and NKA: Journal of Contemporary African Art. Keith holds degrees from Spelman College and UCLA and is a proud native of Los Angeles.
Support
Many thanks to Atlanta Contemporary for hosting Keith’s public talk.
