Asha Iman Veal is Associate Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Photography. She focuses on interdisciplinary projects that advocate cross-cultural solidarity across geographic or political distance. Her recent curatorial projects and exhibitions include: Beautiful Diaspora/You Are Not the Lesser Part at MoCP (2022); RAISIN as a partner program of the Chicago Architecture Biennial (2021); Martine Gutierrez at MoCP (2021); Dream at Hyde Park Art Center (2021); and more. Asha Iman's previous work includes curatorial, publication, and research projects in Chicago, New York, Edinburgh, Vietnam, Juárez, Havana, and Tokyo; as well as serving as Associate Festival Producer for playwright Eve Ensler’s V-Day global movement to end violence against women and girls (New York).
She has been a juror and nominator for contemporary art centers and residencies including University of Chicago Arts, University of Chicago Center for the Study of Race Politics Culture, and more; as well as grantors including 3Arts and Arts Work Fund. She is on the board of Experimental Sound Studio and Heaven Gallery. Her projects have been featured and supported by international cultural organizations such as Pakhuis de Zwijger Amsterdam, Istituto Italiano di Cultura Chicago, Alfred Landecker Foundation/Humanity in Action, BMW Foundation, and more. In additional appointments and engagements, Veal is on the Arts Administration and Policy Department’s graduate and undergraduate faculty as Associate Professor Adj. at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is also a Humanity in Action Landecker Democracy Senior Fellow (EU/UK/USA), a Chicago Council on Global Affairs Emerging Leader (cohort 2022/2023), and a BMW Foundation Responsible Leader (North America Region/Global Table). Veal earned her BA at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, an MFA in creative writing at The New School, and an MA in arts administration and policy from SAIC.