Alisa LaGamma, the Ceil and Michael E. Pulitzer Curator for African Art and Curator in Charge of The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, presented this year’s Margaret Scolari Barr Lecture. Born in Lubumbashi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, LaGamma has been at The Met since 1996. Since then, she has devoted her curatorial projects to topics ranging from authorship to portraiture, working to anchor African art historically and conceptually.

“As the Met’s Africa curator, I have at once sought to bring the collection to life and to address many erroneous assumptions about the works on display,” she said. LaGamma approached her role as an opportunity to proactively address some of these assumptions. “Thinking back on my time at the Met as a newly-hired curator, I overheard a mother commenting to her children: ‘This is the Africa section, this art has no artists.’”

Galvanized to change this perception of African art and artists, LaGamma’s very first Met exhibition was titled Master Hand—a direct response to a fundamental misapprehension that she found many people have about her field. And so, the subject of Master Hand was “the importance placed on individual achievements in Africa,” evident through works attributed to generations of specific artists with accompanying photographic portraits of the individuals.

During her lecture, LaGamma also discussed the newly renovated Michael C. Rockefeller wing, which reopened in May of 2025 after a multiyear renovation. LaGamma, who helped organize the redesign, presented on the vast differences between how the wing looked before and then after its transformation, which reimagined the displaying of African art. Drastic changes transformed the African area of the wing, adding complex story to objects and updates in the way of digital features and symbolic interior design. 

“Integrated into the flow of our galleries is a new layer of digital content designed to transport you to some of the very different cultural landscapes that originally informed the works on display,” shared LaGamma. She offered the example of a dozen short films shot on location in Ethiopia by a young Ethiopian-American documentary filmmaker, Sosena Solomon. “These immersive experiences allow you to hear directly from experts in Africa, reflecting on the significance of major world heritage sites and the challenges people in those places face.”

About the Margaret Scolari Barr Lecture
In honor of its 25th Reunion in 1989, the Class of 1964 established the Margaret Scolari Barr Lecture in recognition of her contribution to arts education and in appreciation for her distinguished career at Spence. This annual lecture is dedicated to the visual arts. Past speakers have included Joan Mertens ’64, Emily F. Braun and Ira Spar. Learn more about beloved Spence teacher and honorary alumna, Ms. Scolari Barr, here.