This article originally appeared in the September issue of ESSENCE.As the assistant curator of contemporary art at the Brooklyn Museum, 32-year-old Rujeko Hockley is shaking up the art world—and crafting must-see shows that celebrate Black women.Were you always interested in art?When I was two, my

I sit by my computer, opening my Gmail – getting ready for the onslaught of rejection emails saying I’m “not quite what they are looking for at the moment.” By now I am used to it. It’s a necessary part of the process. I give ideas, they reject. I give better ideas, they nicely reject. I give ...

Almost any given object can be split in half with each half making up 50% of whole.I can only think of one exception.When someone asks if I am half black or half white, I don’t want to give the comfortable response they are looking for. Any answer would imply that my Whiteness and Blackness are ...

The pop stars Iggy Azalea and Azealia Banks share more than just similar names. Both are emerging young women in an industry that has, especially since the turn of the millennium, all but relegated women to video-girl roles. Both are artists whose hype to date exceeds their output. Both are also