Yesomi Umolu recently co-organised Serpentine Pavilion 2022: Black Chapel by Theaster Gates and Barbara Chase-Riboud: Infinite Folds (2022), the first survey of the artist in Europe. As Artistic Director of the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennal titled …and other such stories (2019-20), Umolu 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 Andors 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, the European Biennal of Contemporary Art. Umolu is a 2016 recipient of the prestigious Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts Curatorial Fellowship. Umolu has served as a reviewer and juror for major artist residencies and granting organizations including Artadia, Core Residency Program, Creative Capital and the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. She served on the curatorial advisory board for the United States Pavillion at the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale. She was a trustee of the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts in Chicago. Umolu holds an MA, with distinction from the royal College of Art in London and a MA (Hons.) from the University of Edinburgh.