Cherise Smith

Cherise Smith is the Joseph D. Jamail Chair in African American Studies and a Professor in the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, with affiliations in the Art History department. She serves as Executive Director of the Art Galleries at Black Studies and is a renowned scholar in African American art, performance studies, and critical race theory.

• Education: Ph.D. in Art History, Stanford University (advised by Drs. Wanda Corn and Pamela Lee).

Her research examines African American art, the history of photography, and how performance art interrogates racial, gender, and class identities. At UT Austin, she leads the Art and Archive Initiative, expanding collections and exhibition spaces for art by Black creators. Recent publications include Michael Ray Charles: Studies in Blackness (2020), which won the Charles C. Eldredge Prize, and Enacting Others (2011), analyzing identity negotiation in performance art by Eleanor Antin, Nikki S. Lee, Adrian Piper, and Anna Deavere Smith.

Smith’s work has been funded by the Getty Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Harvard’s W.E.B. Du Bois Institute. She has held curatorial roles at major institutions, including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She serves on editorial boards for American Art and Art Journal, and the Archives of American Art Journal’s Advisory Board.