Heart of Our Culture: Black Art & Artifacts

Black art and artifacts are the guardians of Black history and culture. They tell our story, help us understand the past, and shine the light for us to go forward. They are our public and collective memory.

Tammi Lawson is the curator of the Art & Artifacts Division at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, where she is the steward of a Collection of approximately 15,000 works of fine art and artifacts dating back to the 17th century that reflect the history and expressive culture of the African Diaspora. The items conserved within Lawson’s division range from African Art, paintings, and sculpture; works on paper and textiles; to important representations of ephemeral and material culture. Lawson advises and supports the students, scholars, and curators who visit the collection to research and prepare papers, books, catalogs, and exhibitions on black art and artists. As a curator, she collaborated on…