Black Twitter has questions after ‘colonizer’ snags African art curator role at Brooklyn Museum
Black Twitter wasn't feeling the colonizer vibe the Brooklyn Museum is putting out there.
The Brooklyn Museum recently announced a new addition to their African art department: a white woman. Her name is Kristen Windmuller-Luna and she has been named the Sills Family Consulting Curator of the museum’s African art department.
The Brooklyn Museum recently announced a new addition to their African art department: a white woman. Her name is Kristen Windmuller-Luna and she has been named the Sills Family Consulting Curator of the museum’s African art department. (Early reports said a second coloniz…white person was hired for African photography, but his role is in photography in general.)
Windmuller-Luna has a thick stack of credentials from a number of prestigious institutions, buuuuut, that’s beside the point for a lot of people.
Ever since that scene in Black Panther where Killmonger schools the befuddled white curator about the African artifacts her museum had on display, people have had a more critical eye towards who guards the treasures of the African diaspora on dispaly around the world. And some folks just want it ALL back!
Black Twitter’s reaction to the new title bestowed upon this white woman? Streep it ewey! *Zuri Voice*
— T’Manny (@mannyfidel) March 27, 2018
I’m guessing @brooklynmuseum didn’t go see The Black Panther because they just hired two new white curators for Brooklyn Museum’s extensive African art collection. Not to discredit their qualifications or whatever but y’all couldn’t find a qualified Black/African curator in NYC? pic.twitter.com/WQSt7nh092
— Jamilla Okubo (@VivaIllajams) March 27, 2018
This by no means discredits the achievements& qualifications of these curators, but saw this story making the rounds on my FB & can’t help thinking how tropes of museum curators as gatekeepers (eg, #BlackPanther) draw on real world examples #POCarthistory https://t.co/0LJmRABroD
— Ananda Cohen-Aponte (@drnandico) March 27, 2018
Brooklyn Museum has a plan y’all. They will hire two Assistant curators who are Black/African. The Help. Ain’t that how museums do it? My friends tell me it is so.
— Vagabond (@blacklikewho) March 28, 2018
Let’s see how many of you mosey on over to the Brooklyn Museum with jean jackets and asymmetrical hair asking a few questions about the African art collection. Just don’t poison anybody, folks.
READ MORE: Black police officer, taunted as “Uncle Tom” during Stephon Clark protest, says the words hurt
