Dr. Rhea L. Combs is a curator, writer, and educator. Currently she is the Senior Curatorial Fellow of Global and Contemporary Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art and most recently was the director of curatorial affairs at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC from 2021-2026. There she led the curatorial and conservation departments, helped establish the museum’s strategic vision, and curated several permanent and temporary exhibitions including, This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance, among others. Previously, Combs served as the founding curator of film and photography and head of the Earl W. and Amanda Stafford Center for African American Media Arts (CAAMA) at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Her writings have appeared in periodicals, exhibition catalogues and anthologies on topics related to photography, time-based media, gender, and contemporary art.

Photo by: Kelvin Bulluck