Mabel O. Wilson (born 1963) is an American architect, designer, and scholar. She is the founder of Studio& and a professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation.
Mabel O. Wilson | |
|---|---|
 Mabel O. Wilson at the book launch for When Ivory Towers were Black at Columbia GSAPP | |
| Born | 1963 (age 60–61) Atlanta Georgia |
| Nationality | African American |
| Alma mater | University of Virginia (BA) Columbia University (MArch) New York University (PhD) |
| Occupation | Architect |
Education edit
Wilson received a Bachelor of Science in Architecture at the University of Virginia in 1985, a Master's of Architecture at Columbia University in 1991, and a Ph.D. in American Studies from New York University in 2007.
Career edit
Wilson is the co-founder of Studio &, an architecture firm exploring different facets of art, architecture, and cultural history.[1] Her research and writing explore race in contemporary art, film, and new media; the social production of space; and politics and cultural memory in Black America.
Wilson is the Nancy and George Rupp Professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and is also a professor in the African American and African Diasporic Studies Department. She serves as the director of the Institute for Research in African American Studies and co-directs Global Africa Lab.
She has taught courses in architectural design, history, and theory since 2007.[2] Also at Columbia, she is the Director of the Institute for Research in African American Studies (IRAAS)[3] and, alongside Mario Gooden, is the co-director of Global Africa Lab (GAL). Wilson is a founding member of Who Builds Your Architecture? (WBYA?)—a project that examines "the links between labor, architecture and the global networks that form around building buildings."[4]
In 2021, Wilson co-organized the 'Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America' exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in New York.[5] It is the first exhibition at MoMA to feature a collective body of work by 10 African-American architects, artists and designers [6] trying to “reclaim the larger civic promise of architecture,” as stated by the New York Times.[7]
Books edit
Wilson has written books including Race and Modern Architecture: A Critical History from the Enlightenment to the Present (Co-Editor with Irene Cheng and Charles L. Davis II), forthcoming from University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020 (ISBN 978-0-822-94605-2), Begin with the Past: Building the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution, 2016 (ISBN 978-1-588-34569-1), and Negro Building: Black Americans in the World of Fairs and Museums, University of California Press, 2012 (ISBN 978-0-520-26842-5).
Awards and honors edit
- 2021: Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) Class of Fellows[8]
- 2019: American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Architecture[9]
- 2019: Educator/Mentor honor from Architectural Record's Women in Architecture Design Leadership Program[10]
- 2015–16: Ailsa Mellon Bruce Senior Fellow at the National Gallery of Art's Center for Advanced Study in Visual Arts (CASVA)[11]
- 2011: United States Artists Ford Fellow in Architecture and Design[12]
References edit
- ^ "Mabel O. Wilson". Columbia GSAPP.
- ^ "Mabel O. Wilson". Columbia University GSAPP. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
- ^ "Mabel Wilson | IRAAS Institute for Research in African-American Studies".
- ^ "About". Who Builds Your Architecture? (WBYA?). Retrieved 4 March 2020.
- ^ "Architecture's whiteness by design can change. Mabel Wilson shows us how in MoMA show". Los Angeles Times. 2021-03-19. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
- ^ "Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
- ^ Kimmelman, Michael (2021-03-11). "How Can Blackness Construct America?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
- ^ "Society of Architectural Historians Names the 2021 Class of Fellows". www.sah.org. Retrieved 2021-03-15.
- ^ "Awards". American Academy of Arts and Letters. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
- ^ Mavros, Kara (6 September 2019). "Architectural Record's 2019 Women in Architecture Award Winners Announced". Architectural Record. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
- ^ "National Gallery of Art's World-Renowned Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA) Announces 2015–2016 Academic Year Appointments". National Gallery of Art. 25 August 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
- ^ "USA Fellows". United States Artists. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
External links edit
- Columbia University GSAPP, Professor of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and Professor in African American and African Diasporic Studies, and the Director of the Institute for Research in African American Studies
- Zewde, Sara; Wilson, Mabel O. (25 January 2022). "New Monuments". ARTnews.com.