Alliyah Allen is a first-year PhD Student and independent curator whose practice is grounded in Black feminist approaches to exhibition-making, education, and public engagement. Her research and criticism explore Black visual culture, archives, and alternative art spaces, with particular attention to how histories of Black artistic production are preserved, interpreted, and activated both within and beyond traditional museum structures.
Working across different publics, Allen approaches her scholarly research and curatorial engagements as an evolving and relational practice—one that must remain responsive to the distinct histories, needs, and knowledge of the people and places an institution serves. Through exhibitions, educational initiatives, and public programs, she creates opportunities for artists, scholars, cultural workers, and participants to learn with and from one another.
Allen holds an MA in Modern Art: Critical and Curatorial Studies from Columbia University and a BA in Religion, with a concentration in Africana Studies, from Haverford College. Her major curatorial and public art projects include Blues People (2024), Wards of Newark: Manuel Acevedo (2026), and Dreamtime in Newark: Aljira and the Making of Global Contemporary Art, opening October 15, 2026, at The Newark Museum of Art.