Drawing upon her current book project, Black Venice, Dr. Cheryl Finley will chart the contemporary Black presence at the Venice Biennale, the “Olympics of the art world,” and unpack the symbolic role of Black artists, scholars and collectors within the larger discourse on race and belonging shaping the art world’s future. Highlighting the foundational work of the Atlanta University Center Art History + Curatorial Studies Collective in educating the next generation of African American art world professionals at HBCUs, she will share exciting career pathways that center innovation, technology, creativity and leadership.

This event is a collaboration between the Atlanta University Center Art History + Curatorial Studies Collective and the North Jersey Chapter of Jack and Jill of America.

Cheryl Finley is director of the Atlanta University Center Art History + Curatorial Studies Collective and Distinguished Visiting Professor of Art History at Spelman College. Committed to engaging strategic partners to transform the art and culture industry, she heads an innovative undergraduate program at the world’s largest historically Black college and university (HBCU) consortium in preparing the next generation of African American museum and visual arts professionals for careers in the art industry. She is a curator, contemporary art critic, and award-winning author noted for Committed to Memory: The Art of the Slave Ship Icon (2018), the first in-depth study of the most famous image associated with the memory of slavery—a schematic engraving of a packed slave ship hold—and the art, architecture, poetry, and film it has inspired since its creation in Britain in 1788. Dr. Finley is completing a manuscript on the art market titled Black Art Futures.

Image: Fred Wilson, Untitled (Venice Biennale), 2003

Making Art, Work.