Erin Falker-Obichigha
Adjunct Faculty
MA, Wayne State University; MFA, Washington University in St. Louis
Falker-Obichigha’s interests as an artist, curator, and philosopher lie in investigating the deep-seated need to protect, maintain, and carve out black space as it relates to legacy cultural intuitions. It grows from a desire to investigate how people of color physically navigate majority institutions and the ways in which they resist automatic performative practices of code-switching and respectability in favor of a more authentic performative self. The aim is to identify performative practices that can provide pathways for everyday people to engage in generative struggle that will eventually lead institutions to become more critical of how they engage, include, and exclude.
Professional Experience
Erin I. Falker-Obichigha is a practicing visual artist, accomplished curator, and arts administrator. After receiving her undergraduate degrees from Stanford University in Art History and Art Practice, Falker-Obichigha went on to receive her M.F.A. from the Sam Fox School at Washington University in St. Louis and M.A. in Art History from Wayne State University in Detroit, MI . She has curated several highly regarded exhibitions and has worked on projects such as 30 Americans, Say It Loud: Art, History, Rebellion, Oh, You Fancy!, and Beyond Space, a compendium and exhibition curated by Carrie Mae Weems. Currently sh is a PhD Student and David Driskell Fellow at the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts.