Mora J. Beauchamp-Byrd

Mora J. Beauchamp-Byrd, Ph.D., is Visiting Assistant Professor of Art and Design at the University of Tampa. An art historian, curator, and arts administrator, she specializes in the art of the African Diaspora (including artists engaged with feminist theory and African American cartoonists), curatorial studies, 18th-century British art (with an emphasis on William Hogarth’s graphic narratives), and contemporary British art with a particular focus on British artists of African, Asian and Caribbean descent. Prior to her appointment at Spelman, she was Visiting Assistant Professor of Art History in the Department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies at Duke University from 2014-2015. She completed a Ph.D. in Art History at Duke University in the Department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies in 2011. She has also earned an M.A. in Art History from Columbia University, and a B.A. in Art History and an M.A. in Visual Arts Administration from New York University.

Beauchamp-Byrd has served as curator of numerous exhibitions including Struggle and Serenity: The Visionary Art of Elizabeth Catlett; The Worldview of Katherine Dunham; Transcending Silence: The Life and Poetic Legacy of Audre Lorde; Africa’s Legacy: Photographs from Brazil and Peru by Lorry Salcedo-Mitrani; CUBOP! The Life and Music of Mario Bauza; Petrona Morrison and Veronica Ryan: Sculptural Works; Selections from the Aaron Douglas Collection at the Amistad Research Center; Martin Payton: Twenty Years of Sculpture; When I Am Not Here/Estoy Alla: Photographs by Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons; Raised to the Trade: Creole Building Arts of New Orleans; A Celebration of Faith: Henriette Delille and the Sisters of the Holy Family; John T. Scott: Selections from the Fine Art Collections at Xavier University; Conjuring Women: Gender and Representation in the Fine Art Collections at Xavier University (part of the University’s first Women’s Studies Conference, 2012) and EPaul Julien: A Ten-Year Retrospective.

Recent Article(s):

“Spirit House: John Scott’s Iconographic Portraits of New Orleans,” Guest Editorial essay for Thematic Update/Community Spotlight re: New Orleans, (http://www.oxfordaasc.com/public/featureded/guest.jsp); Oxford African American Studies Center, Henry Louis Gates, Editor-in-Chief (Oxford University Press, 2015); (http://www.oxfordaasc.com/public/letters/letter.jsp).