Risham Majeed

Art Historian | Curator | Educator — Medieval & African Art

I was born in Lahore, Pakistan and grew up there and in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, before moving to London, U.K. in the early 1990s. Cultural hybridity is central to my approach to art and life and I love being a New Yorker.

Other than that, I am Associate Professor of Art History at Ithaca College, specializing in the intersections of medieval European and African art — bridging museum practice, teaching, and scholarship to challenge conventional narratives about art, race, and cultural exchange.

Ph.D. from Columbia University; former curator at Qatar Museums (with Zaha Hadid) and lecturer at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. I’ve curated exhibitions including Made to Move: African Nomadic Design (2017) and Africa in the World: materials without end (2026). I have published in Art Journal Open and The Art Bulletin, and am co-authoring Global Medieval in the Museum (Cambridge University Press, 2027). I also teach the course, New York City and the History of Museums at Columbia University.

Board member, International Center of Medieval Art and Different Visions.

Passionate about museums, and eyewear.