Rewriting Art History at the Studio Museum in Harlem

""I take a lot of inspiration from our founders, who opened up in a complicated moment," Golden says. "My own career began in the midst of the culture wars of [the nineteen-nineties]. Understanding museums as a place that should be, can be, must be where we engage deeply in ideas-in this moment, that has to offer some hope as we consider a future.""

"The curator Thelma Golden is a major presence in New York City's cultural life, having mounted era-defining exhibitions such as "Black Male" and "Freestyle" early on in her career. Golden is the Ford Foundation director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, an institution, founded in 1968, that is dedicated to contemporary artists of the African diaspora. But, for a significant portion of her tenure, this singular museum has been closed to the public."

Thelma Golden leads the Studio Museum in Harlem as its Ford Foundation director and chief curator, having mounted era-defining exhibitions such as "Black Male" and "Freestyle." The museum, founded in 1968, is dedicated to contemporary artists of the African diaspora. A significant portion of Golden's tenure coincided with the museum's closure to the public while she led the initiative to demolish and rebuild a new, purpose-built facility on the same site. The museum reopened in the new building and highlighted key works and its mission. The reopening occurs amid broad attacks on cultural institutions and contested debates over identity politics. Golden draws inspiration from the founders and from the culture wars of the 1990s, describing museums as places to engage deeply in ideas and to offer hope for the future.

Read at The New Yorker