an art-adjacent academic who is thinking, writing, and teaching in seattle

 
kemi sits in a black hoodie with her black curly hair in a bun on top of her head. she looks directly at the camera.
 

I’m an Associate Professor of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies and Director of The Black Embodiments Studio at the University of Washington. I’ve got a new book with Duke University Press, Feels Right: Black Queer Women & the Politics of Partying in Chicago.

I was lucky to co-edit the volume Queer Nightlife (University of Michigan Press, 2021) and I have two other books in the pipeline that think closely with contemporary art and arts writing as sites for enhancing our understandings of racial blackness and gendered sexuality.

I work with choreographer Will Rawls as a dramaturge for his project [SICCER] and I’ve written on and for artists including Tschabalala Self, Jovencio de la Paz, Indira Allegra, Brendan Fernandes, and taisha paggett. I sometimes find my way into curating, including Katherine Simóne Reynolds’ 2021 solo show at Jacob Lawrence Gallery and Amina Ross’ 2019 solo show at Ditch Projects, and I co-curated Unstable Objects in 2017 at the Alice Gallery.