ABOUT ME

I'm an art historian who believes in the power of objects to influence and even direct our memory. 

In my scholarship, I pay attention to visual culture in part because I think that art and materiality help people to remember--and in some cases, these visuals also tell us what to forget.

I am also a historian and curator at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. 

At the Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C., you can learn about American history through biography and portraiture. I have curated exhibitions on Marlene Dietrich, America's Presidents, Watergate, Will Rogers, women's suffrage in the United States, and the relationship between art and empire. You can find my Instagram feed here about my life as a curator. My Exhibitions page has a more formal accounting, with links to the websites and reviews.

Great Danes and fluffy cats tend to congregate wherever I live. Below is my current canine love, code-name Beastie.

My publications include three books, several book chapters, and a byline in the New York Times and CNN Opinion
Curious? Check out my books here.