Zoé Whitley
Zoé Whitley is a curator and art historian. She was awarded an honorary OBE for Services to Art in 2025. Her PhD was supervised by celebrated artist Lubaina Himid CBE. Whitley currently serves on the boards of Teiger Foundation, New York and Sir John Soane’s Museum, London. She is a Fine Arts faculty member for the British School at Rome and Art Outreach Summit Singapore.
Whitley led the vanguard arts space Chisenhale Gallery for five years, resulting in artist commissions acquired by the Whitney Museum of American Art, Henie OnstadKunstsenter, Norway and Mudam Museum of Modern Art Luxembourg. Whitley’s award-winning projects span exhibitions and publications at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Studio Museum in Harlem, Tate Britain, Tate Modern (notably for co-curating Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power) and the Hayward Gallery, as well as curating the 2019 British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
She was one of the London Mayor’s Commissioners for Diversity in the Public Realm and was selected for the inaugural cohort of Center for Curatorial Leadership.
On the occasion of El Anatsui’s dual exhibitions in London at Goodman Gallery and October Gallery, and his inclusion in the Tate Modern’s Nigerian Modernism exhibition curated by Osei Bonsu, the artist spoke with art historian and curator Zoé Whitley. Their conversation touches upon Anatsui’s long held interest in material versatility, how culture influences his process, and the importance of play for art and for the world.
