Melaine Ferdinand-King is a Providence, Rhode Island-based cultural researcher, producer, and writer who specializes in cultural theory and contemporary art of the Americas and Africa (painting, photography, and prints).

Her teaching, curation, and research are rooted in “creating the lovely unexpected”, a curiosity about the power of cultural production in forging alternative models for being and seeing in the world, especially for people from marginalized communities. She was named 2023 Emerging Curator by the Providence Biennial for Contemporary Art, culminating in the exhibition “Poiesis” at WaterFire Art Center, the first exhibition to highlight Providence metropolitan area street culture, urban design, and experimentalism.

Raised in New Jersey, Melaine earned a B.A. in Sociology from Spelman College, a M.A. in Africana Studies from Brown University, and a Ph.D. in Africana Studies (U.S., Caribbean, Africa) from Brown University. Her dissertation, “Afrosurrealism and the Art of Black Wayfinding”, is one of the first to explore the aesthetic politics of theorists and artists of the Black surrealist canon.

Her writing has been featured in publications such as Boston Art Review, Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute, and The National Council for Black Studies Annual Report, among others. In addition to research and creative direction, Melaine frequently hosts and moderates conversations on the arts, film, design thinking, performance, and culture-based models for learning and communication.

Listen to her recent interview with Billiards VMSOA: