“Touching at a Distance”: Ellen Tani on Nadine Robinson’s Coronation Theme: Organon
Nadine Robinson’s installation Coronation Theme: Organon of 2008 uses its monumental sculptural presence and an immersive soundscape to weave complex aspects of Black life in America over the past century from the rituals of dance halls in Jamaica to the development of hip hop in New York, to gospel music and secular oration, as well as photographs documenting police brutality against nonviolent civil rights protestors.
Photo: Tiffany L. Clark
Ellen Tani is an art historian, curator, and critic based in Washington, DC, who is invested in institutional change toward diversity and inclusion. Her research explores issues of race and ethnicity in modern and contemporary art, with a focus on conceptual art, black studies, and feminist thought. She holds a PhD in art history from Stanford University, and is currently the 2020-2022 A.W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art. She was a fellow at the Clark in summer 2021.