LONDON.- Dr. Zoé Whitley has been appointed Senior Curator, Hayward Gallery at Southbank Centre. Whitley will assume the position on 8 April 2019 working alongside current Senior Curator Cliff Lauson and under Hayward Gallery Director Ralph Rugoff, on the gallery’s dynamic programme of work that showcases the world’s most adventurous and innovative artists. Whitley joins from Tate Modern where she held the position of Curator, International Art from April 2017 and 2019 will see Whitley curate the British Pavilion presentation of Cathy Wilkes at the 58th Venice Biennale.

Whitley studied at University of Central Lancashire where she obtained her PhD supervised by artist Professor Lubaina Himid. Whitley’s recent exhibitions include ARTIST ROOMS: Jenny Holzer (July 2018 – July 2019) at Tate Modern and co-curating the acclaimed Tate exhibition Soul of a Nation (12 July – 22 October 2017). Prior to joining Tate in 2013, she was curator at the V&A (2003-2013) and has previously organised exhibitions at the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2013-2014) and for the Johannesburg Art Fair in 2017. In 2018 she was named by leading international art magazine, Apollo as one to watch in it’s ‘40 Under 40’ and among London's most influential people in the Evening Standard’s ‘Progress 1000’.

During her career to date she has written a number of highly regarded publications including The Graphic World of Paul Peter Piech (Four Corners Books) and co-authored museum catalogues including In Black and White: Prints from Africa and the Diaspora (V&A, with Gill Saunders); The Shadows Took Shape (Studio Museum in Harlem, with Naima Keith); and Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power (Tate, with Mark Godfrey).

Ralph Rugoff, Director of Hayward Gallery, said: “I'm delighted that Zoé will join the Hayward Gallery as Senior Curator. Her critical acumen, her rich institutional experience working for two of the great museums of London, and her thoroughly up to date knowledge of contemporary art from around the world will make her an invaluable new member of the team.”

On joining the Hayward Gallery team, Dr. Zoé Whitley said: “The mix of world-class and risk-taking programming consistently draws me to the Southbank Centre as a member of the public. I am so excited to now join the team when the organisation is innovating interdisciplinary leadership and collaboration, modelled by Ralph Rugoff, Gillian Moore (Director of Music) and Madani Younis (Creative Director). I look forward to ideas-sharing and working closely with my Hayward colleagues because I respect what they do and the historical significance of the space we’ll build upon.”

Dr. Zoé Whitley will succeed Vincent Honoré who departed Hayward Gallery earlier this month to assume the position of Artistic Director of MoCo Contemporary Arts, Montpelier. Honoré joined Hayward Gallery in October 2017 at the beginning of its 50th anniversary year, curating the extremely successful exhibition DRAG: Self-portraits and Body Politics (August 2018 – October 2018) and guest curating the upcoming exhibition Kiss My Genders (June – September 2019).