Yesomi Umolu

Yesomi Umolu
Arts leader and curator, London, UK

Yesomi Umolu is an arts leader and independent curator. From 2021 to 2024, she was Director of Curatorial Affairs and Public Practice at Serpentine Galleries, London where she oversaw the artistic program alongside co-organizing the Serpentine Pavilion 2022; Black Chapel by Theaster Gates; and Barbara Chase-Riboud: Infinite Folds (2022), the first survey of the artist in Europe, among other projects

As Artistic Director of the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial (2018-20) ...and other such stories, she oversaw a critically acclaimed curatorial program featuring new commissions and off-site installations with over 80 international contributors. Umolu has developed key solo exhibitions and publications with Assemble, Ursula Biemann and Paulo Tavares, John Akomfrah, Mike Cloud, Mariana Castillo Deball, Kapwani Kiwanga, Candice Lin, Harold Mendez, Camille Norment, Karthik Pandian, and Andros Zins-Browne, among others.

She was previously Director and Curator, Logan Center Exhibitions at the University of Chicago, where she also taught courses in visual art and spatial practices as a lecturer in the humanities division. Prior to joining the University of Chicago, she held curatorial positions at the MSU Broad Museum, Michigan; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and Manifesta 8.

Umolu is a trustee of the Horniman Museum and Gardens in London. She was
previously a trustee of the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts in Chicago, and she served on the curatorial advisory board for the United States Pavilion at the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale. Umolu is a 2016 recipient of the prestigious Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts Curatorial Fellowship. She holds an MA, with distinction, from the Royal College of Art in London and a MA (Hons.) from the University of Edinburgh.