Curator Oluremi C. Onabanjo, ‘Among the Most Compelling Voices in Contemporary Photography Today,’ is Departing MoMA to Join Metropolitan Museum of Art

ONE MAJOR NEW YORK MUSEUM’S LOSS is another’s gain. The Metropolitan Museum of Art recently announced a new appointment. Oluremi C. Onabanjo is joining The Met in the role of curator in the Department of Photography. Onabanjo is currently the Peter Schub Curator in the Robert B. Menschel Department of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), where her exhibition “Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination” is on view through July 25. She departs MoMA this month and starts at The Met in August.

“Oluremi C. Onabanjo is among the most compelling voices in contemporary photography today. Her scholarship and curatorial vision reflect a deep engagement with the histories of the medium and a thoughtful approach to the ways photography shapes our understanding of the world,” Met Director and CEO Max Hollein said in a statement when the appointment was announced in April.

Oluremi C. Onabanjo. | Photo by Naima Green, Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art

The recipient of the inaugural Vilcek Foundation Prize for Curatorial Work (2025), Onabanjo’s curatorial practice focuses on the history of photography throughout the African continent and the African Diaspora with a particular interest in the social, political, cultural, aesthetic, and archival aspects of the medium.

In 2021, she joined MoMA as associate curator of photography working with collection of more than 35,000 works. She was promoted to curator in 2024. At MoMA, her widely celebrated exhibitions have included “Ideas of Africa;” “Projects: Ming Smith” (2023), co-curated with Thelma Golden of the Studio Museum in Harlem; and “New Photography 2023: Kelani Abass, Akinbode Akinbiyi, Yagazie Emezi, Amanda Iheme, Abraham Oghobase, Karl Ohiri, Logo Oluwamuyiwa,” which was the first group show in MoMA’s history to present works by living West African photographers.

Previously, Onabanjo was director of exhibitions and collections at The Walther Collection, a renowned international collection where she planned shows and lead the acquisition, research, and publication program (2014-21). She also served on the curatorial team of the 8th Triennial of Photography Hamburg in (2022).

Onabanjo has taught, lectured, and written widely. She studied at Columbia University, where she earned a Ph.D., in art history and a BA in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African studies. In addition, she holds an MSc in visual, material, and museum anthropology from Oxford University.

“Oluremi C. Onabanjo is among the most compelling voices in contemporary photography today. Her scholarship and curatorial vision reflect a deep engagement with the histories of the medium and a thoughtful approach to the ways photography shapes our understanding of the world.” — Met Museum Director and CEO Max Hollein

AT THE MET, Onabanjo will be working with a collection of nearly 90,000 works—dating from 1839 to the present, across photography and time-based media—including the archives of Walker Evans, Diane Arbus, and Harlem Renaissance Photography James Van Der Zee. She will develop exhibitions, acquisitions, and scholarship with a focus on 20th and 21st century photography, particularly international practices in Africa and Asia. Her portfolio also includes collaborating with other museum departments to expand the presentation and curatorial consideration of the medium.

“Onabanjo brings a remarkable depth of knowledge and a rigorous approach to the study of photography,” Jeff Rosenheim, The Met’s Curator in Charge of the Department of Photographs, said in a statement. “Her work reflects a nuanced understanding of the medium’s histories and its global trajectories, as well as a strong commitment to expanding the collection in meaningful and enduring ways. We look forward to the perspectives she will bring to the Department and to the Museum as a whole.”

The appointment includes a full-circle opportunity. Onabanjo will help steward works from the Walther Collection, which she helped build early in her career. In 2025, The Met received a landmark gift of more than 6,500 photographs, albums, and time-based media from The Walther Collection, including modern and contemporary works from the African continent, Germany, China, and Japan, among other locations, along with 19th- and 20th-century vernacular photographs from the United States, Europe, Colombia, and Mexico. A comprehensive exhibition of the works is scheduled for 2028.

“I am honored to join The Met at such a dynamic moment as it looks ahead to the future of Photography in the Museum,” Onabanjo said in a statement. “The Met’s extraordinary collection and its commitment to presenting art across cultures and time offer a powerful context for rethinking the histories of photography. I look forward to contributing to the Department’s work and to engaging new audiences with the medium.” CT

BOOKSHELF
Oluremi C. Onabanjo edited the exhibition catalog “Ideas of Africa: Portraiture and Political Imagination.” She is also the author of “Ming Smith: Invisible Man, Somewhere Everywhere,” and editor of “Marilyn Nance: Last Day in Lagos,” which appeared on Culture Type’s list of the Best Black Art Books of 2022. Onabanjo has contributed to other volumes, including “Samuel Fosso: Autoportrait” and “Suite 718: The Walther Collection Project Space, New York” She also co-edited “Recent Histories: Contemporary African Photography and Video Art from the Walther Collection.”