Ashton Cooper

Ashton Cooper is a curator of modern and contemporary art committed to Queer, feminist, and anti-racist approaches to art historical thinking. She joined the Des Moines Art Center as Associate Curator in October 2024 after previous positions at the Hammer Museum, MOCA, and the Getty Research Institute, all in Los Angeles. Her recent projects include the exhibition Jennifer Bolande, Mona Hatoum, Alison Saar at the Hammer Museum and catalogue essays on Catherine Opie for the Museum of Art of São Paulo (MASP) and on Renate Bertlmann for the Belvedere 21 in Vienna. Cooper earned her Ph.D. from the University of Southern California and B.A. from Barnard College.