My name is Izunna Ugwu. As a passionate PhD student in Art History at the University of Delaware, I am interested in the visual and material cultures of early modern and modern Africa and the African diaspora, spanning from the 15th to the 20th centuries. I study a wide array of artistic forms, including painting, sculpture, architecture, and photography, both within Africa and across its diaspora between 1600s and 1900s. Through material cultural objects, I explore the social, cultural, political, and religious lives of early modern African societies, the history of the transatlantic slave trade and colonialism, and the African presence in the early modern and modern American art, highlighting connections between African and American visual and material culture. I am also interested in museum and curatorial practices, as well as the political and ethical issues surrounding the presentation of African visual art and material cultural objects in global institutions.

My current research is exploring the comparative significance of feathered headdresses in pre-colonial and colonial Mexico, Nigeria, and Congo, focusing on their roles as symbols of power, authority, and spirituality. By examining case studies from the Aztec culture in Central Mexico, Igbo culture in Nigeria, and Kuba, Pende, and Kongo cultures of the Congo Republic, I aim to explore how these headdresses represented status and divinity and how they were influenced by European colonial and Christian impacts. My work investigates the adaptation and resilience of these cultural symbols within colonial contexts and analyzes their transformations under colonial pressures, drawing parallels between the arts of Africa and the Americas.