Christine Eyene Joins LJMU and Tate Liverpool

At LJMU, Eyene will contribute research and teaching in the field of contemporary art and curating, with an emphasis on decolonizing the arts institution. She will be working as part of theExhibition Research Lab team led by Joasia Krysa, Professor of Exhibition Research and Head of Art and Design, who was recently announced as curator of the 2nd Helsinki Biennial. At Tate Liverpool, Eyene will contribute to the overarching research framework alongside the Exhibitions and Displays, and Learning teams. Her new role begins in April 2022.

From 2012 to March 2022, Eyene was a Research Fellow in Contemporary Art at the University of Central Lancashire where she worked on Making Histories Visible, a multidisciplinary visual arts research project led by Lubaina Himid, Professor of Contemporary Art and 2017 Turner Prize winner. In this framework, Eyene developed new research on feminism, sound art, and photography. She is currently a PhD candidate at Birkbeck, University of London, and is completing a thesis on the relationship between African literature and visual representation in the work of South African photographer George Hallett (1942-2020).

As a curator, Eyene has developed numerous exhibitions in Britain and internationally, the latest include Breaking the Mould: New Signatures from the Democratic Republic of Congo, 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, London (2021); Sounds Like Her: Gender, Sound Art and Sonic Cultures, New Art Exchange, Nottingham and UK touring (2017-2020); RESIST! The 1960s protests, photography and visual legacy, BOZAR, Brussels (2018).

Her projects have featured emerging and internationally established artists such as Larry Achiampong, Sonia Boyce, Christine Sun Kim, Delaine Le Bas, Zanele Muholi, Yvon Ngassam, Magda Stawarska-Beavan, Wolfgang Tillmans, Kara Walker, Hank Willis Thomas, and many more.

Eyene recently launched Bikoka Art Project in Lolodorf (Cameroon), an initiative fostering creative and professional opportunities for local youth and women. She is the founder ofYaounde Photo Network, a platform supporting Cameroonian photography and video art locally and through international collaborations. She is also artistic director of the 5th Biennale Internationale de Casablanca 2022-2023.

As an art writer she has contributed to Tracey Rose: Shooting Down Babylon (Cape Town: Zeitz MOCAA, 2022); Lubaina Himid (London: Tate Publishing, 2021); Alice Mann: Drummies (London: Gost Books, 2021); Cosmogonies: Zinsou, an African Collection (Milan: Silvana Editoriale; Montpellier: MO.CO., 2021).

Eyene has been member of the selection committee of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair since 2021. She is also member of jury of The London Open 2022 (Whitechapel Gallery) and Jerwood/Photoworks Awards 2022.