CV

Education

Goldsmiths, University of London - 2019 - 2024
Doctoral Candidate Visual Cultures
Thesis title: Mapping Interconnected Threads: Contemporary Dioula Handwoven Cloth, Motif Development, and Creativity in Côte d’Ivoire 1970-2023.

University College London - 2011 - 2012
MA Archaeology of Africa and the African Diaspora
Dissertation title: The Use of Cardinal Points, Cross Marks and Lines in the African Diaspora: a critique of the BaKongo Cosmogram.

University College London - 2008 - 2009
MA History of Art
Dissertation title: Masking Representation: Images of National Culture and the Diaspora.

Beloit College - 2004 - 2008
BA History of Art and Anthropology

Teaching Experience

Lecturer - 2022 - present
University of Arts London, London

  • Lecture in Design, Culture, and Enterprise for BA Design and Culture Course

  • Lead tutor for final year BA Students

Associate Lecturer - 2022 - present
Goldsmiths, University of London, London

  • Associate lecturer in Visual Cultures for BA History of Art Course

Graduate Tutor - 2021 - 2022
Goldsmiths, University of London, London

  • Graduate tutor for BA History of Art Course.

Development Design Tutor - 2017
Shetab Afghanistan; Brooklyn NY

  • Taught and mentored female entrepreneurs and designers via online sessions.

Graduate Field Assistant - Winter 2013 Field season
University of Illinois Archaeology Department; Senegal

  • Mentored undergraduate students from the Archaeology Department at IFAN, Dakar.

Work Experience

Co-Founder, President - 2020 - Present
Five | Six Project

  • Created a nonprofit organization in partnership with Indigenous weavers in West Africa that develops training and grassroots initiatives to preserve West African textile arts.

Co-Founder, Head of Development and Curation - 2016 - Present
Five | Six Textiles

  • Built a partnership with Indigenous artisans in West Africa to preserve and bring their craft to a global audience.

Curatorial Researcher - 2014 - 2016
The Metropolitan Museum of Art; New York, NY

  • Researched objects and contributed descriptions for exhibitions and publications for the department for the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas and their 2015 exhibition titled: Kongo: Power and Majesty. Worked with the lead curator on daily upkeep of the MET’s African art.

Curatorial Researcher - 2013
The Walters Museum of Art; Baltimore, MD

  • Worked with the curator of the Ancient Art department on their 2013 exhibition titled: The Book of the Faiyum.

Gallery Manager - 2009 - 2011
Long & Ryle Gallery; London

  • Managed and promoted a catalog of 25+ artists.

Awards & Committees

Student and Emerging Professionals committee - 2023 - present
College Art Association, Committee Member

PGCert: higher education teaching qualification - 2023
Goldsmiths, University of London

Academic Practice Award for Teaching - 2022
Goldsmiths, University of London

Association for Art History Grant - 2022
The Association for Art History

Scholarship for the Study of African Textiles - 2021
The Karun Thakar Fund & The V&A Museum, London

Goldsmiths Graduate Fund - 2020 & 2021
Goldsmiths, University of London

Goldsmiths Graduate Fund - 2020 & 2021
Goldsmiths, University of London

Publications & Conferences

Complex Geometries: creativity, motif, and the study of contemporary handwoven cloth from Côte d’Ivoire
African Arts Journal 56, no. 3 (2023): 34-43. https://doi.org/10.1162/afar_a_00719.

Crafting Motif: Indigenous Textile Design and Contemporary Arts and Crafts Industry 
Spring 2023 at the Association for Art History Annual Conference, London.

Going Beyond tress and Rhizomes: how biomimicry can inform collaborative and multi-disciplinary learning
Published January 2023 in Suzan Koseoglu & George Veletsianos book Feminist Critical Digital Pedagogy.

Complex Geometries: Local Textiles Meets Global Design
Arts Council of the African Studies Association Triennial, Chicago, 2021

Interwoven Entanglements: How Dyula weavers are finding creative roots in the past, aesthetic adaptions in the present, for design responses in the future
Association of Art History Conference, Birmingham, 2021

Guest Lecturer on Indigenous object management in museums - 2018
Beloit College Anthropology Department; Beloit, WI

Panelist - Beloit College Weissberg fall forum - 2018

Other Qualifications & Skills

Languages
English - native
French - basic conversational, reading & writing