Introducing The Met’s New Photography Curator: An Insight into Art Movements

Oluremi C. Onabanjo Heads to The Met

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has appointed Oluremi C. Onabanjo as its new curator of photographs. Onabanjo, a London-born scholar raised in Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and the U.S., is known for her focus on African and Black diasporic photography. She transitions from the Museum of Modern Art where, since 2021, she curated exhibitions on artists like Ernest Cole and Ming Smith. Her notable publication, “Marilyn Nance: Last Day in Lagos” (2022), highlights the 1977 Pan-African art festival. In 2025, Onabanjo was awarded the Vilcek Foundation Prize for curatorial work.

A Boost for Queens Artists

The New York Foundation for the Arts and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs have granted a total of $493,350 to 129 Queens-based artists, collectives, and nonprofits. Noteworthy recipients include artist Adelle Yingxi Lin, known for her “calligraphy collaborations” with water bodies. For a full list of recipients, visit the NYFA website.

Additional Art Movements

– Melissa Chiu will leave her position at the Hirshhorn Museum to direct the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.
– United States Artists announced the Knight Arts + Tech fellowship awardees, granting $50,000 each to LIZN’BOW, Miguel Novelo, Rhonda Holberton, Taeyoon Choi, and Wes Taylor.
– 47 Canal, a gallery promoting artists like Anicka Yi and Josh Kline, will relocate to Chelsea, sharing space with Max Levai’s new venture.
– Bryan Collier will be honored at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art’s Carle Honors.

Wildcard

Artist Stuart Semple celebrates a decade of his “pinkest pink” pigment by distributing signed editions for free to everyone except Anish Kapoor, who owns the rights to the world’s blackest black. The bright pink, usable in various mediums, champions the idea of color-sharing as a positive gesture.