‍ ‍Image: Reframing Blackness: What’s Black About “History of Art”?

Panel discussion: Race and Racism in Art Institutions

The panel discussion will explore the state of arts education in the Nordic region and beyond, with a particular focus on access and representation, within contemporary art institutions. Central to the conversation is the question of who is given visibility, opportunity, and authority within the arts sector, and why Afro-Nordic contemporary art curators, programmers, directors, and cultural leaders remain underrepresented in countries such as Finland despite growing conversations around diversity and inclusion. 

The discussion will also examine how Blackness and the contributions of Black and brown artists, thinkers, and cultural workers have historically been excluded or erased from dominant art historical narratives. The panelists: author and curator Alayo Akinkugbe, educator and writer Maryan Abdulkarim and curator Päiviö Omwami. will reflect on the role of educational institutions, museums, galleries, and funding bodies in shaping these narratives, while considering how colonial histories and Eurocentric frameworks continue to influence contemporary arts education and cultural production today. 

Alayo Akinkugbe is the author of Reframing Blackness: What’s Black About “History of Art”?. Päiviö Omwami curated the exhibition Invisible Race at the Finnish Museum of Photography. Maryan Abdulkarim has written Noin 10 myyttiä feminismistä (10 Myths About Feminism) together with Eveliina Talvitie. 

The panel discussion aims to identify meaningful ways to support emerging and established practitioners in the contemporary art field and will be moderated by Neicia Marsh, former Culture and Society Programme Director at the Finnish Institute UK and Ireland, currently Curator at Autograph ABP.

Date: 29 October 2026
Time: 18:00-20:00

Helsinki Central Library Oodi
Maijansali, 1st Floor 
Töölönlahdenkatu 4
00100 Helsinki, Finland

  • Alayo Akinkugbe is an independent writer and curator. She graduated from the University of Cambridge with a BA in History of Art in 2021 and graduated with an MA in Curating The Art Museum from the Courtauld Institute of Art in 2023. Akinkugbe is a contributing editor at AnOther Magazine, writing the column Black Gazes, she hosts the podcast A Shared Gaze, and runs the Instagram platform, A Black History of Art which celebrates the contributions of Black artists, sitters, curators and thinkers from art history and the present day.

    She has contributed to books and exhibition catalogues and written for publications including Dazed, Tate Etc and The World of Interiors. Her aim is to continually highlight the work of Black artists from across the globe and all periods of art history, in a bid to challenge the way art history is taught and presented in the West.

  • Maryan Abdulkarim is a freelance journalist, societal discussant and occasional artist. In her artistic work, Abdulkarim focuses on questions relating to freedom and dreaming, such as in the project We Should All Be Dreaming created with Sonya Lindfors. In 2019, Abdulkarim was awarded the Minna Canth Award for her work on furthering equality.

  • Päiviö Maurice Omwami is a curator and philosopher who works as an exhibition curator at the Finnish Museum of Photography. In addition to working in the fields of photography and culture, Omwami researches race and racism, particularly from the perspective of whiteness. Critical philosophy of race, postcolonial theory, and afropessimism, as well as research on structural oppression and political theory, are among Omwami's key areas of interest. Omwami has served on the board of Tutkijaliitto since 2023.