Alexis Boylan

Alexis Boylan is a Professor in the Art + Art History Department and Africana Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut, with a joint appointment. She holds a PhD from Rutgers University. Her primary research explores visual culture and urban spaces, focusing on how cities shape visibility and exclusion through architecture, public art, and commercial sites. She also examines intersections of race, gender, and geography in cultural institutions.

Recent projects include studies on the American Museum of Natural History’s visual knowledge production and the James Museum of Western and Wildlife Art’s impact on regional identity. Her work bridges art history, urban studies, and critical race theory, interrogating how visual environments reflect and reinforce power dynamics.

Publications include Visual Culture (MIT Press, 2020), Ashcan Art, Whiteness, and the Unspectacular Man (2017), and edited volumes like Thomas Kinkade: The Artist in the Mall (2011). She also serves as Director of Academic Affairs at the UConn Humanities Institute, fostering interdisciplinary research collaborations.