London-based curator, writer and scholar Renée Mussai harnesses the transformative power of art for social advocacy and as a catalyst for transformation.
Working through a Black feminist lens, her approach to curation is rooted in artist-centred advocacy, immersive programming and embodied visual activism. During her 2-decade long tenure as Senior Curator and Head of Collection & Curatorial at arts charity Autograph, she organised many critically-acclaimed exhibitions worldwide – championing contemporary artists such as Zanele Muholi, Lola Flash, Lina Iris Viktor, Phoebe Boswell and Aida Silvestri through commissions, acquisitions and publications, while leading pioneering archive, research and educational initiatives. Her curated group and solo exhibitions range from the first-ever retrospective of veteran photographer James Barnor (2010) to Mickalene Thomas: All About Love (2024) and I See the Face of Things to Come (2023) for R/evolutions, 14th edition of PhotoIreland Festival.
Former Artistic Director/Chief Curator of The Walther Collection, and visiting guest curator / non-resident fellow at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, Mussai was recently appointed as Professor of Practice at the University of Johannesburg’s Visual Identities in Art and Design Research Centre (VIAD), and currently acts as Chair of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation’s advisory council, Trustee of QueerCircle and the Centre for British Photography, amongst other academic and institutional affiliations. She is also guest curator at The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia and guest lecturer at Sotheby’s Institute of Art London.
An esteemed writer, editor and educator, she is the author/editor of ‘Black Chronicles: Photography, Race and Difference in Victorian Britain’ (Thames & Hudson and Autograph, 2025) and several award-winning artist monographs such as ‘Lina Iris Viktor – Some Are Born to Endless Night’ (Autograph, 2021) and ‘Zanele Muholi: Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness’ (Aperture, 2018 / 2024). Her latest book project is the forthcoming sole-authored ‘Eyes That Commit – A Visual Gathering’, scheduled to be released by Prestel Publishing in spring 2027. Mussai curates, lectures and publishes internationally on visual and curatorial activism, with a focus on contemporary artists whose work addresses decolonial, archival and remedial politics. In 2025, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of the Arts in recognition of her sustained curatorship – and scholarship in photography and lens-based media.
