The Block welcomes Ruslana Lichtzier as the 2023-24 art history graduate fellow. Ruslana is a doctoral candidate in Art History at Northwestern, as well as a Mellon fellow in MENA Studies, and in Critical Theory Studies. In her work with The Block she is working with Academic Curator, Corinne Granof, to curate a Fall 2024 exhibition centering on the recently acquired photographs of Bev Grant. 

We took a moment to sit down with Ruslana to discuss her background and work at the museum.

Can you tell us a bit about your background and your field of study? 

I have migrated between three continents, three languages, and three political regimes. This movement of ongoing rifts formed alienating distances and close encounters with state regimes of terror. The first was totalitarian, as I was born in Siberia, USSR, followed by a Democratic Apartheid as I immigrated at the age of seven to Israel. Today, in the US, this unhomely distance bestows upon me a commitment to an ethical state of statelessness. It is my feeling that this complex position can be further nurtured at the Block, which provides me with an invaluable opportunity to further my professional pursuits within a museum setting.   

At Northwestern, I am a doctoral candidate in Art History as well as a Mellon fellow in MENA Studies, and in Critical Theory Studies. In my PhD, I study the construction and deconstruction of contemporary coloniality in Palestine and Israel, focusing specifically on the formation of Israeli nature and anti-colonial practices that dismantle it. 

How did you find your way to the museum work?   

I have been working as an independent curator since 2013 and it is this practice that has shaped my academic research as well as my pedagogy. While my prior experiences have provided me with a diverse curatorial toolkit, my practical knowledge of museology and experience within museums remains slim. I am thrilled to be guided by Block Museum’s professional and curatorial community and acquire the diverse skills that constitute the work of an art curator in our age.  

What particularly interests you about working within the context of a campus art museum? 

In my exhibitions, writing, and pedagogy, I focus on the relationship between art, politics, and institutional forms of oppression. The public-facing and inquiry-driven exhibitions and programming The Block champions make it an ideal place for me to deepen art historical work as practiced in institutional museum settings. 

The public-facing and inquiry-driven exhibitions and programming The Block champions make it an ideal place for me to deepen art historical work as practiced in institutional museum settings. 

Ruslana Lichtzier

What are you looking forward to working on? 

I am very excited to be working together with the Academic Curator, Corinne Granof, on the Fall 2024 exhibition centering on the recently acquired photographs of Bev Grant. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Grant was a member of the New York Radical Women group and as such she was imbedded in the radical left. As a photographer, Grant documented her group’s gatherings, as well as pro-abortion rallies, the Miss America Pageant protest, the Moratorium on the Vietnam War, and other protests. In her photographs, she intimately captures rallies, demonstrations, and community events presenting a wide coalition of social justice movements, spanning from the Poor People Campaign to the Black Panther Party.    

What museum exhibitions or programs (outside the Block) have inspired you lately? 

The exhibition, Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces, at the MoMA is an important show of historical revisionism. It presents the work of Linda Goode Bryant who was behind the gallery Just Above Midtown—or JAM—that operated from 1974 to 1986, focusing on NY Black artists.  

Is there anything upcoming at the Block Museum or Northwestern you are particularly excited about? 

I am very excited to see Madison Brown’s upcoming exhibition in the spring of 2024. Rumors say she will be presenting parts of the Block’s vernacular photography collection, which I am dying to see in person.   

What are your upcoming goals for your role? 

 My highest concern is to do justice to Bev Grant’s phenomenal work. My goal is to produce for the exhibition a support system that allows students and faculty to connect and be touched by her practice. I hope that our communities will see themselves reflected in her work and hear the call that still emanates from her photographs: the call for civic and social justice.