About Holiday Powers

I am a professor of art history at VCUarts Qatar. My research is on global modern and contemporary art, rooted in post-colonial theory and feminist and gender theory. I focus primarily on art in Africa and the Arab world. My long-term work focuses on modernism in Morocco (1956-1978), and my new research is on the representation of maternal bodies in global modern and contemporary art. I am very interested in the larger stakes of understanding art politically, especially in identifying the larger power structures and transnational debates that contextualize individual art practices. I have worked professionally in contemporary art, and as part of my academic and professional work have organized many conferences and panels and have led many artists and scholars in public conversation. For example, I organized a conference and a series of panels as part of the Marrakech Biennial, featuring scholars, curators, and artists. At VCUarts Qatar I've been in public conversation with a variety of artists, such as Zineb Sedira and Lawrence Abu Hamdan.