Delinda Collier

Delinda Collier is a Professor and Dean of Graduate Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). She holds an MA from Arizona State University (2004) and a PhD from Emory University (2010). Her work focuses on African art, technological art, media studies, and postcolonial theory. Collier has held prestigious fellowships including the 2020 Visiting Senior Fellowship at the National Gallery of Art and the 2017 Clark Fellowship. Her notable publications include Media Primitivism: Technological Art in Africa (2020) and Repainting the Walls of Lunda (2016). Her current research explores crypto-art, digital colonialism, and African artistic responses to globalization.

Collier’s academic career bridges art history and critical theory, with particular attention to decolonizing art practices. She has co-edited volumes on instability in contemporary art and contributed to ARTMargins, Visual Culture Studies, and other leading journals. As Dean of Graduate Studies, she oversees SAIC’s interdisciplinary graduate programs emphasizing innovation and cultural critique.

• Awards: 2024 Arnold J Rubin Award, 2020 CASVA Fellowship, 2017 Clark Fellowship
• Key Themes: Digital primitivism, postcolonial media, African art historiography, crypto-art ethics
• Recent Work: Co-editing Perspectives on In/Stability (2022) and forthcoming Handbook chapter on socialist exhibitions (2025)