Kanitra Fletcher

Fletcher was raised in Houston.^[4] She graduated from Rutgers University-New Brunswick with a BA in English literature before receiving an MA in Latin American studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2011.^[3][5] In 2019 she earned a PhD in art history from Cornell University, where her thesis focused on Black aesthetics and the Black avant-garde in the mid-20th century.^[5][6]

She worked as an assistant at a number of museums in New York prior to her career as a curator, including the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Museum of Modern Art, and New Museum.^[7]

In 2013, Fletcher was chosen as the curator of video art at Landmarks, the public art program of her alma mater UT Austin.^[3]

She began at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) as a curatorial assistant in July 2017 before becoming an associate curator of modern and contemporary art.^[3] During her time at MFAH she oversaw the 2021 showing of Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, which originated at the Tate Modern in London in 2017.^[8][9][4]

Fletcher was announced as the National Gallery of Art's first associate curator of African American and Afro-Diasporic art on January 13, 2021.^{[10][3][11][1][7]} Her first curated show at the National Gallery was Afro-Atlantic Histories in 2022, which she had first adapted for MFAH in 2021 from its original showing at the São Paulo Museum of Art.^[12][2]

Fletcher's subsequent shows at the National Gallery include Spirit & Strength: Modern Art from Haiti, Chakaia Booker: Treading New Ground, and With Passion and Purpose: Gifts from the Collection of Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson.