Lockward was a leading figure in the arts for her pioneering work in the fields of critical race theory, decolonial aesthetics/aesthesis, Black feminism, and womanist ethics. She founded Art Labour Archives, a platform for theory and political activism, in 1996. Based in Berlin and the Dominican Republic, Lockward conceptualized and curated BE.BOP. Black Europe Body Politics (2012–2016) in Berlin, a trans-disciplinary meeting that brought together many art practitioners from the African Diaspora. Alanna Lockward also made a mark as an editor, as a professor of audiovisual theory and investigative journalism at PUCMM, and as director of international affairs at Museo de Arte Moderno (Santo Domingo).