Justin Lewis
Justin Lewis is a doctoral student in the Art History department at Northwestern University studying twentieth-century modern Black diasporic art. With a particular focus on the Transatlantic world, Justin aims to stress-test our understandings of modern art history with new frameworks that privilege Black diasporic art and perspectives. His research interests are situated in the post-war era and the particularities of Black art production following WWII and through the 1970s. He asks: What does it mean to belong between, rather than to, nations, institutions, opposing forces, etc.? What powers lay in this interstitial space, and how do they enable expressions of race, class, and gender? In addition to these guiding questions, Justin seeks to further explore Afropessimism’s relationship to art history and visual culture, and to understand what arises from it in dialogue with poststructuralism and aesthetic theory.
Prior to starting his studies at Northwestern, Justin graduated from Dartmouth College in 2025 with a B.A. in Art History (High Honors) and Physics. There, he was a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow (MMUF). The following year, Justin held a position at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) as the Kasok Family Intern of Museum Studies before beginning his Ph.D.