Stephen Hamilton, Jahnae Wyatt as Queen Poku, from the series The Founders Project, 2018. Installation view, Portraits from the ICA Collection, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, 2025–26. Photo by Mel Taing.
Boston-based artist Stephen Hamilton’s work weaves together past and present, creating a bridge between the ancient and modern worlds. In this conversation, learn about Hamilton’s piece Jahnae Wyatt as Queen Poku, featured in the exhibition Portraits from the ICA Collection.
Hamilton will be joined Erika Umali, ICA Curator of Collections and the curator of Portraits from the ICA Collection, for a discussion about Hamilton’s use of portraiture to address the persistent lack of positive, multidimensional representations of Black life in American culture.
Are there access accommodations that would be useful to help you fully participate in this program (e.g., assistive listening devices (ALDs), portable gallery stools)? Let us know at accessibility@icaboston.org!
Portraits from the ICA Collection is organized by Erika Umali, Curator of Collections.
This exhibition is funded, in part, with support from Leadership in Arts Museums, an initiative to create more racial equity in art museum leadership, supported by the Ford Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Pilot House Philanthropy, and Alice L. Walton Foundation.
Additional support is generously provided by The Sandra and Gerald Fineberg Exhibition Fund.
