Kristina Dziedzic Wright holds a Ph.D. in Museum, Gallery, and Heritage studies from the University of Leicester and a Master’s degree in Rhetoric and Art History from the University of Illinois, Chicago. Her doctoral research, based on comparative case studies in Nairobi and Seoul, examines how the arts reinforce and promote urban and national identity, engage diverse communities, and foster cross-cultural interactions amid increasing engagement between Asia and Africa. As part of her practice-based research, she curated a site-specific installation by the Korean arts collective Bang & Lee at Nafasi Art Space in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
She works as an independent curator and cultural heritage consultant and is an Honorary Research Fellow in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester. She is a member of the British Arts and Humanities Research Council's Early Career Place Network and Servas Artists International. Previously, she taught art history and English at Ewha Women’s University and Seoul National University in South Korea; co-curated African Paper Art: Process, Environment and Substance at the Nairobi National Museum; and developed digital curricula for Hano Academy in Mogadishu, Somalia. She is the author of Art, Culture, and Tourism on an Indian Ocean Island: An Ethnographic Study of Jua Kali Artists in Lamu, Kenya (Mellen Press: 2009) and Transcultural Exchange through Art: Encountering Otherness in South Korea and Kenya (Routledge: forthcoming 2026).
As the 2025 Okwui Enwezor Postdoctoral Fellow in Visual Culture, Performance Studies, and Critical Humanities at The Africa Institute, Kristina will be developing an action research project tentatively titled What’s art got to do with it? Transnational narratives, cultural heritage and radical hospitality. Through a series of participatory art exhibitions and co-created workshops, this intersectoral study investigates migration and belonging amongst African diaspora communities in Europe as well as initiatives to decolonise the cultural and creative industries in various parts of the world.
