Lyneise Williams

Lyneise Williams is an Associate Professor of Art History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, holding a PhD from Yale (2004). Her work explores intersections of race, gender, and visual culture in global contexts, with a focus on Black identity and Latin American diasporas in Parisian art history.

• Education:
  • PhD, Yale University (2004)

Her research spans three major projects: (1) the book Latin Blackness in Parisian Visual Culture, 1852–1932 (2019), analyzing how Blackness became entangled with Latin American identity in Parisian imagery; (2) a study of beauty, technology, and the Black male athletic body in 1920s–30s Paris; and (3) trauma, care, and African American material culture in 1920s Edgefield, South Carolina. She also examines African art, hip-hop jewelry, and the role of traditional healing practices in art history.

Scientific Awards:

• Getty Scholar Fellow (Fall 2016, Getty Research Institute)
• Appointed to the Chief Justice Advisory Commission on Portraits by Cheri Beasley
• Selected for the North Carolina Freedom Monument Project design team via international competition

Williams curates exhibitions on African art and contributes to multidisciplinary collaborations, blending historical analysis with contemporary social themes.