Assistant Teaching Professor
Department of Art

Contact & Social Media

gali@fsu.edu
https://www.graceali.work
Instagram: @grace_aneiza_ali
Twitter: @GraceAneizaAli

Grace Aneiza Ali is a Curator and an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Departments of Art and Art History at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. Her curatorial, research, and teaching practices center on curatorial activism, art and social justice, art and migration, global contemporary art, and art of the Caribbean Diaspora with a focus on her homeland Guyana. Prior to joining FSU, she was an Assistant Professor and Provost Fellow in the Department of Art & Public Policy at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University (NYU), and affiliated faculty with the Asian/Pacific/American Institute.

Ali serves as Curator-at-Large for the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute in New York. In her tenure, she has developed the organization’s first Curatorial Fellowship in Afro-Caribbean Art and launched a thriving public program series, Curators in Conversation, gathering global curators and artists to discuss urgent issues of equity and inclusion affecting museums and the curatorial field.

She is a Fulbright Scholar and a Ronald E. McNair Scholar and the recipient of the following fellowships and grants that have generously supported her curatorial projects, research, and scholarship: NYU Provost Fellowship, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Curatorial Fellowship, NYU Henry M. MacCracken Fellowship, NYU Dean’s Faculty Grant and Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art Grant.

Her book, ‘Liminal Spaces: Migration and Women of the Guyanese Diaspora’ (Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2020), explores the art and migration narratives of women of Guyanese heritage. Her essays on contemporary art have been published in Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas, Wasafiri, Transition Magazine (Harvard University), Small Axe, and Nueva Luz Photographic Journal.

She is founder and curator of Guyana Modern, an online platform for contemporary arts and culture of Guyana and founder and editorial director of OF NOTE Magazine — an award-winning nonprofit arts journalism initiative reporting on the intersection of art and activism. She has been named a ‘Global Shaper’ by the World Economic Forum and ‘Creative Trailblazer’ by the Jahajee Sisters Indo-Caribbean Women’s Empowerment Summit.

She earned a M.A. in Africana Studies from New York University and a B.A. in English Literature with a concentration in African Diaspora Literature and a Certificate in Women’s Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park, where she graduated magna cum laude.

She serves as a proud mentor for Girls Write Now, a leader in arts education, writing and mentoring for underserved and immigrant girls in New York City. She was born in Guyana and migrated to the United States with her family when she was fourteen years old.

Education

• Master of Arts, Africana Studies, New York University, 2008
• Bachelor of Arts, English Literature, University of Maryland, College Park, 2003, magna cum laude

Research & Teaching  Areas of Interests & Expertise

• Curatorial Studies
• Curatorial Activism
• Museum and Cultural Studies
• Caribbean Art
• Art and Social Justice
• Art and Migration
• Global Contemporary Art
• Art of the Caribbean Diaspora.

Notable Accomplishments

• New York University, Provost Faculty Fellowship, 2018 to 2021
• The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Curatorial Research Fellowship, 2015
• New York University, Henry M. McCracken Graduate Fellowship, 2006 to 2008
• Fulbright Fellowship, India, 2003 to 2004