Naomi Beckwith
The MCA Chicago curator discusses staying fluid in your career, the RESPONSIBILITY she feels as a black professional & her RELATIONSHIP to fashion
JeUne Otte: you’ve been at the mCA for the past decade, but this summer you move to NYC to serve as the Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the Guggenheim. We know you’ve lived and worked in NYC before, but what’s it feel like to leave Chicago?
NAOMI: It’s a strange one, but I don’t believe I’m going back to New York just in the same way when I started the job at the MCA, I didn’t really believe I was going back to Chicago. I very much am a big believer in you never step in the same river twice. That, you know, you go into a different world even if it’s a place that’s quite familiar. But I have to say the leaving is more difficult [this time]. First of all, the thought of having to squeeze this life now into 25% of the space for the same price [laughs] is already a little weird. JO: Was the move to the Guggenheim something you were chasing?
NAOMI: Not necessarily. The Guggenheim wasn’t on my trajectory but you know the art world is one that’s relatively tight and relatively small and it makes a village out of New York, it makes a global village. And when a shift happens in one place, the whole thing just starts to play kind of musical chairs. So it wasn’t a big thing on my radar but obviously, it’s an iconic place. It’s a really interesting site because it’s one that is very much instationated on the Upper East Side but it’s created some of the wildest installations and wildest exhibitions I’ve ever seen. So, it’s always been quite refined but also quite experimental. So I’ve always respected it... but when the musical chairs started happening and I got this call, it was like–well, actually I will say my first reaction was like, "Yeah right…" [laughs]. JO: Because it was so surreal?
NAOMI: Yeah, it did feel a bit surreal. I’m sure this is a story a lot of women can relate to: I think that it’s very easy to imagine yourself in a certain status in your career. This kind of institution, or this scale, or this size, or this iconicity, or this city even for that matter. And it’s very easy to get to this point– and look, I say this as a woman who has proudly moved into middle age– that you just start to imagine yourself to be more anchored, rather than fluid. And when that call came in, it was a great kick in the butt to remind myself to remain fluid and to keep the imagination open of where I could be and what I could be. And it’s also the case that I know that part of the reason I do what I do is to advocate for Black artists and artists of color and women and I realize that the more places I can take that mission, the more I can seed that, the better.JO: Many people have described your appointmenT as “a step toward inclusiveness” or “a reaction to institutional racism.” Does that responsibility weigh on you?
NAOMI: This kind of conversation around what do Black professionals represent and what they’re expected to do when they get in a place–it’s similar everywhere in every field for that matter. Which shows, first of all, a lot about our society, right? Someone joked to me, “I’m not going to congratulate you on the Guggenheim job, I’m going to congratulate the Guggenheim for doing what they should have done a long time ago.”
But to answer your question more directly, it has always been the case that I understand as someone who oftentimes–the Studio Museum of course being the great exception–oftentimes I am the first or only Black person in the position. I’ve always understood that that has symbolic value. I don’t take it as a burden to say that it is my job to not only represent myself well, but to make opportunities for others. I’m thinking about the future...constantly, and really making sure that I pave a path for someone else to instantiate themselves. It’s a joy, it’s a mission. I think I was raised in a way of always imagining myself as having a responsibility to others. 
JO: What role does fashion play in your life?
NAOMI: I inherited a love of clothes from my mom, my aunts, my great-aunts. All women who just kind of love getting dressed for an occasion. And I still very much believe in that, I’m kind of Victorian in that way [laughs]. But I also believe in getting dressed in the way, the curator route, where I’m not trying to compete with anything or anyone. I don’t need to totally show out in a room. I’m the kind of person who likes people to discover me in a room, but when you see what I’m wearing you still have to pause for a moment. When you see me you’re going to give me that once over–I don’t mind [laughs]. There’s a great expression in Mali that says basically, If you don’t dress well, you don’t give your neighbors anything pleasurable to look at. Right? You dress for yourself, for your own confidence, you dress for your own pleasure, but also remember that again, you’re part of a world that’s bigger than just you. So think of somebody else too. Give them something to look at. Give them something to discover. JO: Let’s talk about the photoshoot–we loved you in the jumpsuit.
NAOMI: I’m the proud owner of that jumpsuit, which is amazing. You know what that jumpsuit is giving me? There’s a character in "Enter the Dragon." This woman who’s kind of a bit of a madam, she kind of runs the haram for the villain in the film. But she had these flared pants that were like you know, flared for days, and when we were doing the shoot–they gave me the jumpsuit and I grabbed a cropped jacket and I was like “Oh My God, I recreated the 'Enter the Dragon' outfit…” But it’s so fly. I think [the collection] does something that I've always appreciated, which is I think clothes can be ostentatious either in its cut or ostentatious in its materiality and color and form, but it can’t do both. Or it shouldn’t do both. I mean, there are plenty of clothes that do but that is so not me. So for instance, that big flared jumpsuit that I have now–it’s a solid black with an incredible A-line on the legs. Or I also really love that lacy tunic–the fabric is exquisite, but it has a very simple cut. You don’t have to go wild. You don't need crazy bell sleeves or something Medieval-looking. Just pay attention to the fabric or pay attention to the object. Photos by Wade Hall McElroy
Thank you for YOUR time naomi, it was such a pleasure talking with you.
