Kanitra Fletcher facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kanitra Fletcher
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| Education | Rutgers University–New Brunswick (BA); University of Texas at Austin (MA); Cornell University (PhD) |
| Occupation | Curator, Art Historian |
| Years active | 2013-Present |
| Employer | National Gallery of Art |
| Title | Associate Curator of African American and Afro-Diasporic Art |
Kanitra Fletcher is an American curator and art historian. She works at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.. Her job is to find, care for, and show art by African American and Afro-Diasporic artists. She started this important role in January 2021. Before that, she worked at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Kanitra Fletcher is the first person at the National Gallery to focus on this type of art. She also knows a lot about art from Brazil, Latin America, and a special art movement called the Black avant-garde.
Kanitra Fletcher's Early Life and Studies
Kanitra Fletcher grew up in Houston. She went to Rutgers University-New Brunswick and earned a degree in English literature. Later, she studied Latin American studies at the University of Texas at Austin, getting her master's degree in 2011.
She continued her education at Cornell University. In 2019, she earned her PhD in art history. Her special research was about Black art and the Black avant-garde movement from the mid-1900s.
Before becoming a curator, she worked as an assistant. She helped out at museums in New York. These included the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the Museum of Modern Art, and the New Museum.
Kanitra Fletcher's Career as a Curator
In 2013, Kanitra Fletcher became a curator for video art. She worked at Landmarks. This is a public art program at the University of Texas at Austin.
She then joined the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH). She started there in July 2017 as a curatorial assistant. Later, she became an associate curator. Her focus was on modern and contemporary art.
While at MFAH, she helped bring a big art show to Houston. It was called Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power. This show first opened in London at the Tate Modern in 2017.
On January 13, 2021, Kanitra Fletcher joined the National Gallery of Art. She became their first associate curator of African American and Afro-Diasporic art. This was a very important step for the museum.
Her first art show at the National Gallery was Afro-Atlantic Histories in 2022. She had first adapted this show for MFAH in 2021. The original show came from the São Paulo Museum of Art.
