Today, we are in conversation with the arts writer Angela N. Carroll.
“Angela N. Carroll is an artist-archivist; a purveyor and investigator of art history and culture in Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia. Angela is a contributing contemporary visual art, performance and film criticism writer for BmoreArt Magazine, Arts.Black, Sugarcane Magazine, and Umber Magazine. She received her MFA in Digital Arts and New Media from the University of California at Santa Cruz and currently teaches within the Film and Moving Image program at Stevenson University in Baltimore Maryland.”
We ask her three questions about her practice and try to get a better understanding of her journey to Arts writer!
Studio: How did you become an arts writer?
ANC: Scholars like Kellie Jones, Manthia Diawara, Adam Pendleton and so many others had a profound influence on me and my practice as an art writer archivist. Baldwin’s essay The Devil Finds Work was also transformative. He critiques the devaluation of Black representation in American Cinema and the residual impacts of supremacist imagery on American culture. I often consider his work when i write about contemporary Black artists. The archive is an immortal griot. That which is archived becomes history. Whatever is left out is relegated to the margins of our cultural memories. The archive has great importance. I hope my art criticism contributes to the revision of art archives.
Studio: What is your advice to anyone who would like to become an art writer?
ANC: Study art history. Study history. Read essays written by artists. Read essays/books about artists. Watch and attend artist lectures. Live in galleries, museums, pop up art spaces, community art venues. Read something thought-provoking everyday that has nothing to do with art. Don't be afraid to write about an artist that inspires you. We need more diversity in art coverage. Be willing to explore, study and review artists who have been omitted from art archives (women, people of color, LGBTQ and Others).
Studio: In what publications can we find your work?
ANC: BmoreArt Journal (print and online), Sugarcane Magazine, Umber Magazine, Arts.Black, DC Theatre Scene, As of Now, CUE Art Foundation Exhibition Catalog - Peter Williams: With So Little To Be Sure Of Curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah and on Angelancarroll.com, IG @Angela_n_carroll
Studio: Thank you Angela! This was amazing! I am excited for your next moves.