Micah Mekbib
Contemporary discourse has long contemplated the ethical questions raised when individuals who do not share the identities central to an art exhibit take on the role of curating that work. Consider Dr. Kristen Windmuller-Luna, a curator of African arts at the Cleveland Museum of Art and, to put it plainly , a white woman.1 Before joining the Cleveland museum, her appointment as a curator for the Brooklyn Museum’s African art collection sparked protests calling for the decolonization of museum practices.2 Dr. Windmuller-Luna’s sort of cross-cultural curatorial representation often prompts discourse about who should be representing what. And oftentimes, this question of who gets to curate what art may be legally contested when art institutions fire, refuse to hire, or discriminate against curators within suspect circumstances.
Recent lawsuits in museums and cultural institutions show how curatorial authority can become entangled with discrimination law and institutional control. Three examples in particular emphasize the importance of legal protections when institutions exert strong exclusions over who gets to tell what stories. Consider Rachel Parikh, a former associate curator at Worcester Art Museum (WAM), who sued the museum’s leadership in 2023 for alleged discrimination, including being told to “look the part” of a curator.3 She alleged that WAM was in violation of their legal obligation under Massachusetts law to “maintain a workplace free of unlawful discrimination based on sex and gender.”4 Nikki Columbus, a curator recruited for a position at MoMA PS1, had her offer rescinded by the institution upon her disclosure that she was pregnant.5 In her complaint, she alleged that the institution violated New York City Human Rights Law by discriminating against her on the “basis of her caregiver status.”6 Lastly, consider Tiffany Fairall, a former chief curator for the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum in Arizona, who filed a complaint alleging violation of her right to free speech when she found her art exhibit censored for its commentary on police brutality.7 All of these lawsuits underscore that curatorship is about both the substance of selected art itself and who gets hired to tell these stories.
The conversation becomes even more complex when the art being curated comes from incarcerated artists whose work is constrained by their systemic exclusions. During imprisonment, artists’ carceral status oftentimes limit their capacity to enter legally binding contracts or have their work represented in ways consistent with their intentions.8 And even if a prison’s regulations permit an incarcerated artist to enter a legally binding contract, say, with a curator, any breach of that contract presents a steep and arduous path to litigation and legal remedy.9 These hurdles limit incarcerated artists’ ability to have their art safely exhibited.
Despite their best intentions, curators of incarcerated art are still subject to the same institutional influences that shape representational power. When advocating for marginalized communities like the imprisoned population, curators are vulnerable to institutional censorship or retaliation. They may receive discrimination for who they are—as did Rachel Parikh and Nikki Columbus—or for the kinds of stories they illuminate, like Tiffany Fairall.
Past these challenges, the sensitive curation of marginalized voices is possible. Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration, an art exhibit organized by curator Dr. Nicole R. Fleetwood, sought to “explore the impact of the U.S. prison system on contemporary visual art” by highlighting a blend of work by currently incarcerated artists, formerly incarcerated artists, and non-incarcerated artists whose work focuses on aspects of the carceral state.10 The exhibit challenged popular narratives about incarceration by shifting the focus toward the lived experiences and self-representation of impacted individuals. Rather than dismissing incarcerated creators to the periphery of the art world, Marking Time intentionally centers their voices, questioning traditional structures of artistic legitimacy and institutional authority.
Marking Time illustrates one way to handle the ethical implications of curating marginalized art. While the exhibit exemplifies how to gracefully and thoughtfully capture the essence of art made in prison, there is still much to explore in this field about legality, authorship, agency, and positionality. What is clear, however, is that protections under anti-discrimination and employment law are critical to ensuring that curators can continue centering marginalized communities’ voices, including those of incarcerated artists, without unjust dismissal by institutions.
[1]Meet the Curators: Kristen Windmuller-Luna, The Cleveland Museum of Art (Apr. 12, 2024), https://www.clevelandart.org/about-collection/meet-curators/kristen-windmuller-luna.
[2] Robin Pogrebin, Brooklyn Museum Shares Artist Files in African Art Division Controversy, N.Y. Times (Apr. 6, 2018), https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/06/arts/brooklyn-museum-african-arts.html.
[3] Cristela Guerra, Ex-curator sues Worcester Art Museum leaders, alleging discrimination and ‘offensive behavior’, WBUR (Aug. 10, 2023), https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/08/10/worcester-art-museum-waschek-parikh-racism?.
[4] Complaint at 37, Parikh v. WAM, No. 2385CV795-A (Mass. Super. Ct. July 19, 2023).
[5]Curator Files Discrimination Lawsuit After MomA PS1 Rescinded Its Job Offer, Art Forum (July 8, 2018), https://www.artforum.com/news/curator-files-discrimination-lawsuit-after-moma-ps1-rescinded-its-job-offer-239725/.
[6] Complaint at 9, Nicole Columbus v. MoMA PS1, No. ____ (N.Y.C. Comm'n on Human Rights 2018).
[7]Former Curator of Mesa Art Museum Files Federal Lawsuit Alleging Censorship and Discrimination, Southwest Contemporary (Nov. 5, 2024), https://southwestcontemporary.com/mesa-art-museum-federal-lawsuit/.
[8] N.Y. Correct. L. § 170, §177, Labor in Correctional Institutions, NYS Open Legislation, https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/COR/A7 (last visited Oct. 29, 2025).
[9] Lisa Drapkin, Struggles of Using Legal Recourse as a Path Toward Better Prison Conditions, National Lawyers Guild (Jan. 15, 2018), https://www.nlg.org/struggles-of-using-legal-recourse-as-a-path-toward-better-prison-conditions/.
[10]Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration, N.Y. Pub. Lib. (Apr. 6, 2023), https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/marking-time-art-age-mass-incarceration.