Onsite Gallery Curatorial Lecture
Janet Dees: Notes Towards a Black Feminist Curatorial Practice.
Thursday, February 22, 2024 – 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Onsite Gallery is delighted to announce its inaugural Black History Month annual guest lecture featuring curator Janet Dees in conversation with Andrea Fatona, independent curator and an associate professor at OCAD University. This enlightening event, titled "Notes Towards a Black Feminist Curatorial Practice: Contemplation, 'Difficult Knowledge,' and 'Radical Friendship'," will take place at OCAD University, 100 McCaul Street, MC190 (Auditorium).
Janet Dees, a distinguished curator and art historian, brings her unique perspective to the forefront of contemporary curatorial practices. Her work delves into the intersection of art, history, and archives, exploring how contemporary artists engage with these elements. Her lecture promises to ignite meaningful conversations about the transformative power of art and the importance of embracing diverse perspectives within the curatorial realm.
The lecture is co-presented with the Centre for the Study of Black Canadian Diaspora, underscoring the importance of fostering dialogues on Black history, art and culture within and across our communities.
About Janet Dees
Janet Dees is the Steven and Lisa Munster Tananbaum Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, where she is also affiliated faculty in the Department of Art History and an affiliate of the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research and the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program. Trained as a historian of American art, her research and curatorial work focuses on the ways in which contemporary artists engage with history and archives; artists’ interest in transformational practices; and inclusive museum methodologies. Her work includes commitments to African American, African diasporan, and Native American and Indigenous artists.
Since coming to The Block in 2015, Dees has curated several exhibitions including A Site of Struggle: American Art against Anti-Black Violence (2022); Hank Willis Thomas: Unbranded (2018); Experiments in Form: Sam Gilliam, Alan Shields, and Frank Stella (2018); Carrie Mae Weems: Ritual and Revolution (2017); and If You Remember, I’ll Remember (2017). Prior to her appointment at the Block, Dees was curator at SITE Santa Fe, where she worked since 2008. In addition, her experience includes educational and curatorial positions at the New York African Burial Ground Project (now the African Burial Ground National Monument), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Rosenbach Museum and Library, and the Paul R. Jones Collection of African American Art at the University of Delaware. Dees was a part of the curatorial team for Unsettled Landscapes, the inaugural SITElines: New Perspectives on Art of the Americas biennial (2014). Other exhibitions curated at SITE include SITE: 20 years/20 shows (2015); Unsuspected Possibilities: Leonardo Drew, Sarah Oppenheimer, Marie Watt (2015) and Linda Mary Montano: Always Creative (2013)
She earned a B.A. from Fordham University in Art History & African American Studies, an M.A. in Art History from the University of Delaware and achieved Ph.D. candidacy (ABD) in Art History at the University of Delaware. She is the recipient of a 2018 Curatorial Fellowship from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and was a 2023 fellow of the Center for Curatorial Leadership.
Onsite Gallery is generously supported by the Delaney Family.
