CASEY CONTEMPORARY

Elana Casey is an Amherst-based curator, writer, and artist whose practice centers Black lineage, history, and ancestral knowledge while engaging deeply with contemporary Black life. Her curatorial work is conceptually intertwined with themes she explores as an artist, sustaining her investment in contemporary Black art and sociology. As a curator, she creates spaces that invite artists to engage urgent contemporary questions through recurring inquiries such as: Who am I? How has the American landscape shaped me? What is my relationship to spirituality, and how does it inform my work?

Casey approaches exhibitions as sites where time and experience fold onto themselves, framing artists as living archives of influence, memory, socialization, and becoming. She emphasizes the preservation of histories both familial and communal crafting platforms rooted in care, visibility, and profound love for Black life and expression. Her curatorial vision foregrounds the interplay between personal narrative and collective history, interrogating how Black identity, creativity, and spiritual practice intersect with broader cultural landscapes.

Through her work, Casey creates exhibitions that are both reflective and transformative, offering audiences opportunities to witness, engage with, and honor the full complexity of Black experiences. Grounded in empathy and intentionality, her practice treats art as both mirror and site of reckoning, inviting consideration of what is seen and what has been historically overlooked. By centering care, historical consciousness, and creative agency, Casey cultivates spaces where art, history, and community converge in meaningful dialogue.