Aindrea Emelife by Jordan Triberio.

Who Gets Left Out of Art History?

Who gets shown in art, and who is misrepresented or left out? Who is remembered in art history, and who never makes it into the story at all? And who decides which artists, ideas and perspectives are treated as important?

Join curator and art historian Aindrea Emelife for a session on representation and the stories art history tells about itself. You’ll look at artists and artworks that have been overlooked, misread or left out, and consider how those choices still shape the way we see art, and one another, today. The session explores how identity, background and lived experience influence who gets seen in art and on whose terms, and asks what art history might look like if we read it again, alert to everything it left unsaid.

Aindrea Emelife is a Nigerian-British curator, art historian and writer. Her work centres on modern and contemporary art, colonial and decolonial histories in Africa, transnationalism and the politics of representation. She is Head of Curatorial at the Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) in Benin City, and curated the Nigeria Pavilion, Nigeria Imaginary, at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024. Her book, Black Venus, is forthcoming with Thames & Hudson.