It has been more than four years since Zoé Whitley took the helm at East London’s Chisenhale Gallery, a space known for its ambitious approach to showcasing and commissioning contemporary talent. During her tenure, Abbas Akhavan has stunned with his architectural ode to the Arch of Palmyra; Rachel Jones debuted her expressive works on canvas in her first institutional outing; and more recently, Bruno Zhu turned the industrial building into an uncanny code of decorative motifs (on show until February 2, 2025).
Whitley’s career as an art historian, curator and gallery director began as an intern in the costume department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art before she crossed the pond to join the V&A as an assistant curator and then curator. She later served in dual curatorial positions at Tate Britain and Tate Modern and did a short stint as a senior curator at London’s Hayward Gallery before joining Chisenhale.
Her many achievements include co-curating the widely celebrated Tate Modern exhibition “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power” (which toured internationally); curating Cathy Wilkes’s exhibition for the British Pavilion at the 2019 Venice Biennale (as the first African American curator to organize a national pavilion); and joining the Mayor of London’s Committee for Diversity in the Public Realm.
She also completed her PhD in contemporary art at the University of Central Lancashire under the supervision of the acclaimed artist Lubaina Himid, and has penned a plethora of books, from a monograph on designer Peter Paul Peich to children’s titles focusing on the work of Frank Bowling and Sophie Taeuber-Arp.
Earlier this month, Whitley announced her plans to leave the Chisenhale in March 2025 to return to curating and writing independently. Here, she reflects on 2024 and considers what 2025 might bring.
What moment or project stands out as a highlight of 2024?
I have two, both in cinemas. Mati Diop’s Dahomey not only gave voice to the artifacts repatriated from France to Benin but also to local university students contending with their own history. I also love the author Colson Whitehead and didn’t know how Nickel Boys could be translated to the screen without getting lost in visualizing the story’s devastating moments of brutality, but RaMell Ross made a true artist’s film about mood, feeling and brotherhood. There was a Q&A afterward and Ross delivered the most memorable artist talk, too.
What was the best show you saw in London in 2024?
The performance gathering In the land of troubadours (Aşıklar Diyarı), conceived by artist Nil Yalter and curator Övül Ö. Durmusoglu. Anatolian nomadic oral traditions and aşik poetry’s revolutionary calls for justice and love rang out from Halkevi, the Turkish and Kurdish community centre in Dalston. Thinking about the vocalists and the saz players still gives me chills. Not just a highlight of London Gallery Weekend, but of my year for sure.
Tell us about the best show you saw abroad in 2024.
I served as the international juror on the 2024 Sobey Art Award in Canada. All of the other jurors were artists, and the brilliant shortlist included Judy Chartrand, June Clark, Mathieu Léger, Taqralik Partridge, Rhayne Vermette and Nico Williams. Do yourself a favor and watch their short videos online.
What are you looking forward to most in 2025?
Naturally, Chisenhale Gallery’s 2025 program! Dan Guthrie (co-commissioned with Spike Island) proposes radical “un-conservation”; Claudia Pagès Rabal conceives a new defensive choreography; and Grant Mooney spans studio craft and sculpture.
If you could see one change in the art world next year, what would it be?
More than one change is needed. Let’s not sell ourselves short.
What is the one piece of advice you would give yourself at this time last year?
Slow down.
Who is the art professional you have your eye on for 2025, and why?
Nana Biamah-Ofosu, who co-curated “Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Power in West Africa” in the Applied Arts Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. She’s on the Soane Medal jury and had the inspired idea to award structural engineer Hanif Kara. He’s the reason extraordinary renderings actually exist as functional edifices. She took the honor in a new direction by not thinking only about architects but about how prize-winning architecture comes to be. I’m eager to see what she does next.
