Meg Onli (born December 12, 1983) is an African-American

art curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

and writer who has held curatorial roles at the Whitney Museum of American Art and Philadelphia's Institute of Contemporary Art. Her curatorial work primarily revolves around the black experience, language, and constructions of power and space. Her writing has been published in Art21, Daily Serving, and Art Papers. In September 2022, it was announced that Onli would co-curate the 2024

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was held in 1973. It is considered ...

with Chrissie Iles.

Education

Meg Onli, was born on December 12, 1983, and raised in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in photography and a minor in Art History at

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a Private university, private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which gr ...

in 2008. She later participated in the AICA Art Writing Workshop in 2012 and received her master's degree in art history from the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. The art collection is known particularly for ...

in 2014.

Early work

From 2006 to 2010, Onli was the associate producer of the Chicago-based art and culture podcast and blog "Bad at Sports," an online blog and podcast where writers and artists discuss different contemporary artists, exhibitions, and artworks that shape the present and future of art. In 2010, Onli founded the "Black Visual Archive" which was a collection of online documents and reviews of contemporary black and post-black visual culture based in

Chicago, IL Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. The archive consisted of articles, reviews, and interviews that surveyed the works of Chicago-based artists such as Kerry James Marshall, Theaster Gates, etc., and hosted a collection of writings that discussed the work of black artists and cultural workers throughout history. Onli later served as the Program Coordinator at the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts located in Chicago, IL. At the Graham Foundation, she assisted in the showcasing of the “Architecture of Independence: African Modernism” at the Graham Foundation space. Originated by the

Vitra Design Museum The Vitra Design Museum is a privately owned museum for design in Weil am Rhein, Germany. The architect of this building was Frank O. Gehry. His architecture was based on the art movement of the early 20th century, deconstructivism. Making the bu ...

and curated by Manuel Herz, "Architecture of Independence: African Modernism” was an exploration of the complex history and legacy of modernist architecture in sub-Saharan Africa during the 1960s and 1970s. At the Graham Foundation, Onli also assisted in the showcasing of the first “ Barbara Kasten: Stages” project installation (2016-2017). Originated and curated by Curator Alex Klein, the “ Barbara Kasten: Stages” project exhibition showcased Barbara Kasten's five-decade engagement with abstraction, light, and architectural form.

Contributions to Philadelphia’s Institute of Contemporary Art

Onli is currently serving as Andrea B. Laporte Associate Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia. She is the first black woman to serve as curator at Philadelphia's Institute of Contemporary Art. Exhibitions she curated include “Speech/Acts” (2017) and all three chapters of “Colored People Time: Mundane Futures, Quotidian Pasts, and Banal Presents” (2019).

“Speech/Acts” (2017)

“Speech/Acts” (2017) was an exhibition program series that explored how the social and cultural constructs of language have shaped black experiences. Consisting of poetry and visual works, the exhibit showcased new and recent artworks from emerging artists Jibade-Khalil Hu man, Steffani Jemison, Tony Lewis, Tiona Nekkia McClodden, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, and Martine Syms. “Speech/Acts” (2017) also hosted special programs and reading room spotlighting writings of poets Claudia Rankine, Morgan Parker, and Simone White, among others. The Speech/Acts reading group met over six Saturday afternoons in the fall discussing listed syllabus texts and exploring what the writings illuminated and provoked. In addition to the exhibition, a fully illustrated catalog, co-published with Futurepoem, was released featuring reprints of seminal texts by Fred Moten and

Harryette Mullen Harryette Mullen (born July 1, 1953), Professor of English at University of California, Los Angeles, is an American poet, short story writer, and literary scholar. Life Mullen was born in Florence, Alabama, grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, gradua ...

, newly commissioned poetry by Morgan Parker and Simone White, and an essay by Meg Onli.

“Colored People Time: Mundane Futures, Quotidian Pasts, and Banal Presents” (2019)

“Colored People Time: Mundane Futures, Quotidian Pasts, and Banal Presents” (2019) was a three-chapter series that explored the impact of colonialism and slavery on blackness in the past, present and the future. The series of exhibitions featured works by

Martine Syms Martine Syms (born 1988) is an American artist residing in Los Angeles, specializing in various mediums including publishing, video, installation, and performance. Her artistic endeavors revolve around themes of identity, particularly the repre ...

, Cameron Rowland, Carolyn Lazard, Sable Elyse Smith, Kevin Jerome Everson, Dave McKenzie, Aria Dean,

Matthew Angelo Harrison Matthew Angelo Harrison (born 1989) is an American artist living and working in Detroit, MI. His work investigates analog and digital technologies to explore ancestry, authenticity, and the relationship between African culture and African-Ameri ...

, with historical texts from the Black Panther Party, Sutton E. Griggs, and the

University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology The Penn Museum is an archaeology and anthropology museum at the University of Pennsylvania. It is located on Penn's campus in the University City neighborhood of Philadelphia, at the intersection of 33rd and South Streets. Housing over 1.3 mi ...

. “Colored People Time” (2019) was staged in three consecutive exhibitions. The first installment titled “Mundane Futures” featuring installations by

whose work focused the subject of black futures as one inevitably tied the past of slavery and colonialism. In the second presentation, “Quotidian Pasts,” artist

collaborated with both the

and Monique Renee Scott, a specialist in the display of artifacts from the

African diaspora The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from List of ethnic groups of Africa, people from Africa. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the native West Africa, West and Central Africans who were ...

, to stage an exhibition addressing the complexities of collecting and displaying objects acquired by way of colonialism. The final exhibition, “Banal Presents,” showcased the work of Sable Elyse Smith, Cameron Rowland, and Carolyn Lazard, interpreting how the ideas from the previous two installations exist within the present moment. A publication features written responses to the exhibition, along with a republishing of Syms’ Manifesto. Onli left her position at ICA Philadelphia in October 2021 to join Underground Museum in Los Angeles as director and curator. Onli served in that capacity until March 2022 when the museum closed.

Whitney Museum of American Art

Following Onli's departure from Underground Museum, it was announced that she would co-curate the 2024

with Chrissie Iles. In June 2023, Onli joined the Whitney as Curator-At-Large and it was announced she'd be a curator for the museum's forthcoming Roy Lichtenstein show in 2026. In November 2024, Onli was appointed as the Nancy and Fred Poses Curator where she will lead the painting and sculpture acquisition committee and contribute to curatorial projects.

Recognition

Onli has received the following fellowships and awards: * Art Writers Grant from the Creative Capital and Warhol Foundation (2013) * Graham Foundation Individual Research Grant from the Graham Foundation (2014) * Transformation Award from the Leeway Foundation (2018) * Curatorial Fellowship from the Warhol Foundation (2018) * Figure Skating Prize (2021)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Onli, Meg American art curators 1983 births Living people American women curators