Elizabeth Brown

Fellow, von der Heyden Global Fellows

Elizabeth Brown is a sixth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies. Her dissertation, titled The Voracious Appetite of Theaster Gates: Land, Books, Images, and Memorabilia, explores North American artist Theaster Gates and his non-profit ReBuild Foundation, established in 2010. Her dissertation examines the participatory, community-based work of Theaster Gates, whose urban planning and physical transformations of the built environment critically integrate the history of Chicago and its impact on Black cultural life. She also investigates the extension of Gates's Chicago-based studio practice in all media.