Lauren Tate Baeza joined the High Museum of Art in November 2020 as the Fred and Rita Richman Curator of African Art. Baeza oversees a collection that contains over one thousand objects and is distinct in its representation of ceramics, textiles, and West African fine art and material culture.
A scholar of cultural geography and African political history, Baeza is interested in materiality, the spatial distribution of cultural phenomena, and the art of political transitions. For the museum, she spearheads an initiative focused on 20th century African art and has curated Bruce Onobrakpeya: The Mask and the Cross, Three Decades of Democracy: South African Works on Paper, and Ezrom Legae: Beasts, in addition to leading a major reinstallation of the High’s African art galleries.
Before joining the High, Baeza served as director of exhibitions at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, where she organized sixteen exhibitions and installations engaging the visual arts to address social issues. During her tenure, she partnered with Art for Amnesty, Oculus, ESPN, the City of Atlanta, the State of Georgia, and international consulates to produce exhibitions related to the rights of children, civil and economic rights, and the legacy of racialized violence in the United States. Concurrent with her position at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, she curated presentations from the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Collection and managed the James Allen and John Littlefield Collection.
In addition to her work in museums and cultural institutions, Baeza previously worked with nongovernmental organizations and policy think tanks focused on efforts in Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, and Malawi. She has also lectured and taught seminars at the Nafasi Academy in Tanzania, Georgia College & State University, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, Spelman College, Emory University, the University of California, Georgia State University, and California State University.
Baeza holds a Master of Arts in African studies from the University of California, Los Angeles; a Bachelor of Arts in Africana studies and cultural studies from California State University, Northridge; and studied curation at Sotheby’s Institute of Art. She is a contributing editor at Art Papers and serves on the boards of Still Art in Johannesburg and the UCLA African Studies Center. She has been featured on NPR and PBS, as well as in Associated Press News, Smithsonian Magazine, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and various African television and print media.
Watch Baeza’s CreativeMornings talk on the topic of “roots,” addressing her personal and professional connections to Martin Luther King, Jr. and the city of Atlanta (recorded January 2020).