Philly Necrofutures, designed by Keenan Bennett (MFA 2016).
Hilary Whitham Sánchez (GSAS ‘21) has a curatorial and research practice that centers on generating accurate understandings of twentieth-century African artworks as spoils of colonial incursion, ethnographic artifacts, and complex object-experiences traveling through different but overlapping circuits, adhering to distinct but related definitions of value. All her projects have an explicit goal of fostering transparency and dialogue around issues of cultural patrimony among both the current holders of these works and their rightful stewards of African descent. Her alumni award will allow her to further her current project, Philly Necrofutures. In partnership with Dr. Synatra Smith, Philly Necrofutures comines art historical research with data curation and visualization to create a digital record of 35 western and central African works currently held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. At a moment when the culture industry is feeling renewed pressure to address historic and ongoing failures to promote equity and inclusion in their collections, programming, and staffing, the project offers a pragmatic approach to circumventing these protocols, instead centering anti-racist initiatives.