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Four years on, @ABlackHistoryofArt has a global audience of more than 60,000 followers drawn to Akinkugbe’s celebration of Black artists, sitters, curators and thinkers throughout history to the present day. (When Osei Bonsu, curator of international art at Tate Modern, started following her, Akinkugbe knew she was on to something.) She believes its popularity demonstrates a gap in the way the story of art itself is told. “Everyone thinks [art history] is really white,” she explains, “but what if we shift our gaze?”
The creator, 23, grew up in Lagos and moved to the UK at the age of 11. “I never really went to art galleries when I was growing up, but there was a lot of art in people’s homes,” she says. “My grandparents’ house had sculptures and canvases, and their circle of friends included Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu.” After Cambridge, Akinkugbe completed an MA in curating at the Courtauld Institute of Art. Today, she writes a regular column and hosts the podcast A Shared Gaze (series two launches in May; British artist John Akomfrah is the first guest). She’s also taken part in curatorial talks tied to the Royal Academy’s Entangled Pasts exhibition, which explored slavery and colonialism through contemporary and historical artists.
An average week sees her flit between working from home near Kensington Olympia and her studio at VO Curations (an arts organisation based in Mayfair) or the British Library. Like many Vogue editors, Wales Bonner’s Adidas sneakers are a perennial favourite, teamed with classic Max Mara tailoring for work commitments, such as interviewing Rosa-Johan Uddoh at the National Portrait Gallery, and lace bodysuits by Nigerian label Torlowei for a post-library private view.
“Suits make me feel powerful,” she says, citing Charlie Porter’s book What Artists Wear as an influence. “They make me feel like I can face the world.” Lauren Cochrane
Bettina Korek, CEO of the Serpentine Galleries
When Bettina Korek walks through the leafy enclaves of Kensington Gardens on her morning commute, the 45-year-old CEO of the Serpentine Galleries is reminded of Los Angeles. “In LA, nature butts against the city in a less organised, more porous way,” she says of her former home, where Korek – the founder of ForYourArt, an enterprise designed to boost engagement with art in everyday life – worked as executive director of Frieze Los Angeles. “The park is the defining feature of the Serpentine’s geography. Entering or leaving through nature feels very special.”
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