Turner Contemporary appoints new curators to join curatorial team
Turner Contemporary is delighted to announce the appointment of two new curators, Melissa Blanchflower and Emma Lewis, to the curatorial team.
Melissa Blanchflower has worked as a Curator at Serpentine for the past eight years and will now serve as Senior Curator at Turner Contemporary. She brings with her a wealth of experience in organising exhibitions, public art commissions and publications. Blanchflower curated several notable projects at Serpentine, including exhibitions of Kamala Ibrahim Ishag, Jennifer Packer, Faith Ringgold, Christo and Jeanne-Claude and Rose Wylie, which won Sky Arts Award for Visual Art in 2018, as well as Hilma af Klint and Emma Kunz. She also helped to develop the Serpentine public art programme, including commissioning a sculpture by Sophia Al-Maria in Kensington Gardens and a mural by the late artist Atta Kwami. Her post is supported by Freelands Foundation, as part of O Dreamland, an ambitious, multi-year project that will culminate in an exhibition at Turner Contemporary in 2023.
Emma Lewis will join Turner Contemporary as Curator. Lewis was previously Assistant Curator, International Art at Tate Modern, where she curated the recent Dora Maar exhibition as well as delivering Olafur Eliasson: In Real Life, Modigliani and Wolfgang Tillmans: 2017. Lewis is the author of Photography – A Feminist History (Tate/Ilex 2021) and Guest Curator for Sue Williamson & Lebohang Kganye at The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Spring 2023). Her post is supported by a Curatorial Research Grant from the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and the Dana & Albert R. Broccoli Charitable Foundation.
Clarrie Wallis, Director of Turner Contemporary, said: “We are delighted to welcome Melissa and Emma to the Turner Contemporary team. I am excited to see them shape and deliver a new vision for our exhibition programme that will support artistic risk-taking and innovation, and strengthen the gallery’s place in the wider community.”
Notes to Editors
For further information please contact:
Yasmin Hyder, Rees & Co
+44 (0)20 3137 8776
Christina Ackah-Annobil, Communications and Marketing Manager, Turner Contemporary
CAckah-Annobil@turnercontemporary.org
+44 (0) 18 4323 3000
About Turner Contemporary
Turner Contemporary is one of the UK’s leading art galleries. Founded to celebrate JMW Turner’s connection to Margate in 2001, the David Chipperfield-designed gallery opened in 2011. Our work extends beyond showcasing world-class exhibitions, to driving the social and economic regeneration of Margate and East Kent and transforming lives in one of the most deprived areas of the UK.
Since it opened, Turner Contemporary has welcomed over 3.8 million visits, put over £70million back into the Kent economy and connected with thousands of people from the local community through our world-class programme.
Entry to the gallery and all of our exhibitions are free. To ensure our doors stay open to all, we rely on donations from individuals as well as trusts and foundations. Visit turnercontemporary.org to find out more.