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.

Holiday Powers is Assistant Professor of Art History at VCUarts Qatar. Her research focuses on modern and contemporary art in Africa and the Arab world, postcolonial theory, and gender studies.

NBN Episodes hosted by Holiday:

Catherine Grant, "A Time of One's Own: Histories of Feminism in Contemporary Art" (Duke UP, 2022)

April 22, 2023

A Time of One's Own

Catherine Grant
Hosted by Holiday Powers

In A Time of One's Own: Histories of Feminism in Contemporary Art (Duke UP, 2022) Catherine Grant examines how contemporary feminist artists are turni…

Natilee Harren, "Fluxus Forms: Scores, Multiples, and the Eternal Network" (U Chicago Press, 2020)

April 5, 2023

Fluxus Forms

Natilee Harren
Hosted by Holiday Powers

In Fluxus Forms: Scores, Multiples, and the Eternal Network (U Chicago Press, 2020), Natilee Harren captures the magnetic energy of Fluxus activities …

Clémentine Deliss, "The Metabolic Museum" (Hatje Cantz, 2020)

October 4, 2022

The Metabolic Museum

Clementine Deliss
Hosted by Holiday Powers

In The Metabolic Museum (Hatje Cantz, 2020), Clémentine Deliss, a curator, researcher, and former director of the Frankfurt Weltkulturen Museum, explo…

Pamela N. Corey, "The City in Time: Contemporary Art and Urban Form in Vietnam and Cambodia" (U Washington Press, 2021)

September 13, 2022

The City in Time

Pamela N. Corey
Hosted by Holiday Powers

In The City in Time: Contemporary Art and Urban Form in Vietnam and Cambodia (U Washington Press, 2021), Pamela N. Corey provides new ways of underst…

Selene Wendt, "Beyond the Door of No Return: Confronting Hidden Colonial Histories Through Contemporary Art" (The Africa Institute and Skira, 2021)

August 19, 2022

Beyond the Door of No Return

Selene Wendt
Hosted by Holiday Powers

In Beyond the Door of No Return: Confronting Hidden Colonial Histories through Contemporary Art (The Africa Institute and Skira, 2021), art historian …

Delinda Collier, "Media Primitivism: Technological Art in Africa" (Duke UP, 2020)

April 20, 2022

Media Primitivism

Delinda Collier
Hosted by Holiday Powers

In Media Primitivism: Technological Art in Africa (Duke University Press, 2020) Delinda Collier provides a sweeping new understanding of technological…

Anneka Lenssen, "Beautiful Agitation: Modern Painting and Politics in Syria" (U California Press, 2020)

February 28, 2022

Beautiful Agitation

Anneka Lenssen
Hosted by Holiday Powers

Beautiful Agitation: Modern Painting and Politics in Syria (University of California Press, 2020), by Anneka Lenssen, focuses on modern art practice i…

Michelle Millar Fisher and Amber Winick, "Designing Motherhood: Things that Make and Break Our Births" (MIT Press, 2021)

February 15, 2022

Designing Motherhood

Michelle Millar Fisher and Amber Winick
Hosted by Holiday Powers

In Designing Motherhood: Things that Make and Break Our Births (MIT Press, 2021), Michelle Millar Fisher and Amber Winick along with more than fifty c…

Sanjukta Sunderason, "Partisan Aesthetics: Modern Art and India's Long Decolonization" (Stanford UP, 2020)

January 18, 2022

Partisan Aesthetics

Sanjukta Sunderason
Hosted by Holiday Powers

In Partisan Aesthetics: Modern Art and India's Long Decolonization (Stanford UP, 2020), Sanjukta Sunderason explores art's entanglements with historie…

Bahia Shehab and Haytham Nawar, "A History of Arab Graphic Design" (AU of Cairo Press, 2020)

November 26, 2021

A History of Arab Graphic Design

Bahia Shehab and Haytham Nawar
Hosted by Holiday Powers

Arab graphic design emerged in the early twentieth century out of a need to influence, and give expression to, the far-reaching economic, social, and …