Michelle Joan Wilkinson is a writer and curator of Guyanese descent. She is currently the Director of Collections and Exhibitions at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture, where she has curated numerous exhibitions including A People’s Geography: The Spaces of African American Life and Material Girls: Contemporary Black Women Artists. Her scholarly and creative writing focuses on issues of cultural geography, diasporic identity, and traditions of revolution and innovation.

Wilkinson received her Ph.D. in black cultural studies from Emory University in 2001. From 1999-2002, she was an assistant professor of African American, Puerto Rican, and Caribbean literature at Bard College in New York. Desiring to work in a public-serving institution outside of academia proper, Wilkinson gravitated to the museum field. Through her work in museums, Wilkinson integrates her love for the arts, writing, scholarly research, and public engagement.

Since 2002, Wilkinson has consulted on exhibitions, publications, and public programs for the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and at the Studio Museum in Harlem where she held the position of Editor and Library Coordinator.  In addition, she has served as an associate editor for A Gathering of the Tribes literary magazine. While teaching at Bard College, Wilkinson created and edited the ephemeral literary collections Whim and Soully-Gal—the latter of which takes its title inspiration from Paule Marshall’s novel Brown Girl, Brownstones.

To know more about Michelle’s work please visit: http://www.thecouchsessions.com/2010/09/art-black-and-collecting-part-ii/