When Kellie Jones Wanted To Study Black Art History, The Field Didn’t Exist. So She Created It Herself.

When we heard word of this year’s MacArthur Fellows this week, we were particularly thrilled to see the name of curator, art historian and professor Dr. Kellie Jones among the list of recognized “geniuses.” 

At 57 years old, Jones has devoted her life to challenging the oversimplified and whitewashed mainstream narratives of art history, incorporating artists of color into the canon and the conversation. In addition to serving as an associate professor in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University, Jones has curated groundbreaking exhibitions including “Energy/Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction, 1964–1980” (2006), “Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles, 1960–1980” (2011), and “Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties” (2014). 

Through her tireless dedication and work, Jones ushered many pivotal yet under-acknowledged artists into their rightful places in the contemporary art dialogue, and changed the way the African diaspora is seen, taught and remembered. Basically, she is a true queen. 

We reached out to Jones to speak more about her past accomplishments and what she plans on doing with her $625,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation:

You mention in your interview with the MacArthur Foundation that you grew up surrounded by diverse and underrepresented artists. Can you talk a little about the environment in which you were raised and the role art played?

I grew up on the Lower East Side, what’s now called the East Village. My parents were both poets — my father, the late Amiri Baraka, and my mother, Hettie Jones. I’ve been around art and culture my whole life.

I went to The High School of Music and Art, what’s now LaGuardia. One of the things about going to school in New York City ― it’s a very diverse place. I was surrounded by very creative people, but while studying art history, I noticed nobody in the books I was reading represented the people in the class. ...