THE NEWARK MUSEUM OF ART is starting off the new year by welcoming a new member to its curatorial team. Henone K. Girma has been named associate curator of the Arts of Global Africa.
Girma joins the Newark Museum of Art in New Jersey from The Africa Center in Harlem, where she served as programs manager. Her new appointment was announced this morning and she officially started today.
“After a national search to fill this key curatorial position, we are thrilled that Henone is joining our team. She brings tremendous experience and inclusive perspectives to the Museum, building on her breadth of projects,” Catherine Evans, deputy director of Collections and Curatorial Strategies at The Newark Museum of Art, said in a statement.
“After a national search to fill this key curatorial position, we are thrilled that Henone is joining our team. She brings tremendous experience and inclusive perspectives to the Museum. — Catherine Evans
Girma started at The Africa Center in Harlem in 2019, where she was promoted from programs coordinator to programs manager. The Africa Center serves as a nexus for engagement with contemporary Africa and the “exchange of ideas around culture, business and policy related to the continent” with the goal of “transforming the world’s understanding of Africa, its Diaspora, and the role of people of African descent in the world.” Programming at the center has included art installations, performances, film screenings, talks, readings, and book signings.
Previously, Girma was a programs assistant with the College Art Association, concentrating primarily on CAA’s annual conference. She also served as an interpretive programs intern at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. Alongside her institutional appointments, Girma has worked as an independent curator for more than five years. These projects have included collaborations with Art in FLUX Harlem, the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, and serving as associate curator for the exhibition “ReSignifications,” which was organized by NYU Florence and presented in 2018 at Manifesta 12, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art, in Palermo, Italy.
Born in Ethiopia, Girma earned an international business degree with a minor in French from University of Texas at Arlington and has a master’s in visual arts administration, with a nonprofit concentration, from New York University.
Girma is embarking on her second tour at the Newark Museum of Art. From 2015 to 2017, she was the Andrew W. Mellon Research Associate at the museum. During her tenure, she contributed to the publication “The Newark Museum Collection: Arts of Global Africa,” which documents the collection she is now charged with overseeing.
“I am delighted to return to The Newark Museum of Art and honored to be entrusted with the stewardship of its esteemed Arts of Global Africa collection,” Girma said in a statement.
“The opportunity to carry on the remarkable work of my predecessors is both a great privilege and a personal challenge. My goal is to create dynamic modes of presenting the Museum’s expansive holdings of arts of the complex continent I come from to engage visitors from Newark and beyond.” CT
IMAGE: Henone K. Girma. Photo courtesy Newark Museum of Art
ON VIEW Current exhibitions at the Newark Museum of Art include “Saya Woolfalk: Field Notes from the Empathic Universe.” In February, the museum is presenting “Carlos Villa: Worlds in Collision,” the first major museum retrospective devoted to Filipino American artist Carlos Villa (1936-2013)
FIND MORE Linda Harrison joined the Newark Museum as director and CEO in 2019, and later that year presided over an institutional name change. One of the few Black people directing a mainstream art museum, Harrison has assembled an all-female leadership team
FIND MORE The Newark Museum of Art was among the museums that deaccessioned art from its collection in 2021, sparking a public outcry
BOOKSHELF
“The Newark Museum Collection: Arts of Global Africa” explores highlights of the museum’s collection. Henone K. Girma worked on the publication project during her tenure as a fellow at the Newark Museum of Art, from 2017-19.
