Emma Nuzzo

Emma Nuzzo is a curator, community organizer, and Solomon B. Hayden Fellow at Columbia University in the Art History and Archaeology department. Her current work weaves theory and praxis, bringing critical insight from her academic research into contemporary social practice projects while actively challenging established epistemologies in art historical discourse — how we read, display, write about, interact with and value art. Drawing from her experience in education and community organizing, including her role as Programs and Partnerships Manager for For Freedoms during the first Trump administration, her academic research investigates the mechanics of visual activism, leveraging wisdom from ancestors and contemporary practitioners to better understand how communities can be built through creative action. Nuzzo advocates for art as a human right, seeing creativity as an inherent human capacity and technology of connection in a society that encourages our atomization. She is the Founder of Cereus Art, formerly a nomadic gallery supporting emerging artists, now dedicated to building infrastructure for collective creative expression. Nuzzo graduated from Williams College in 2016 with a degree in Art History and Africana Studies and participated in the Studio Museum in Harlem's 2019 Educational Practicum.