Kellie Jones

Jones has dedicated herself to the hard archival work that sustains her original and influential arguments, whether these are presented as scholarly volumes or museum exhibitions. She is a leading figure in the expansion of public understanding of art of the African Diaspora, and the role of art in the struggle for civil rights and social justice. Her most recent book South of Pico: African American Artists in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s (2017) was named a best Art Book of 2017 in The New York Times, and a Best Book of 2017 by Artforum. It received the Walter and Lillian Lowenfels Criticism Award from the American Book Award in 2018. In this study Jones considers the work of black Angeleno artists against the strictures of structural racism, and the patterns of urban renewal and modern migration. Honors include MacArthur Fellow (2016).