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Saisha Grayson

Saisha Grayson is Curator of Film and Time-Based Media Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Stories from this author

Five screen video installation

A Meditation on the Legacy of Frederick Douglass by Artist and Filmmaker Isaac Julien

Sir Isaac Julien’s moving image installation interweaves period reenactments across five screens to create a vivid picture of nineteenth-century activist, writer, orator, and philosopher Frederick Douglass.

Girl, Simone Leigh, Chitra Ganesh,

Identity and Visibility

How a recent acquisition addresses themes of race and LGBTQ+ identity

Paul Cadmus,

Seeing the Rainbow in SAAM’s Collection

Taking a deeper look at how we talk about gay artists at SAAM

Still from Jen Liu,

Women's Films, All of Our Futures

Join us at SAAM for the second Women Filmmakers Festival March 6 and 7

John Baldessari,

John Baldessari: An Appreciation

Remembering the influential artist whose video works helped define contemporary art

From the collections of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. Funding provided by Joseph H. Hirshhorn Bequest Fund; Gift of Nion T. McEvoy, Chair of SAAM Commission (2016-2018) and McEvoy’s fellow Commissioners in his honor.

How Arthur Jafa Created a Contemporary "Guernica"

The curator of time-based media examines the importance of a powerful work that speaks to our times...and times past.

Artist Brendan Fernandes On the Dance Floor as a Space for Resistance and Resilience

Dancer/choreographer Brendan Fernandez talks about his work, including Free Fall 49, making its East Coast debut at SAAM on June 9.

SAAM lit for Pride 2018. Photo by Andrew Rondinone. The museum exterior will be lit again for Pride 2019 from May 31 through June 9.

Popping (Up) With Pride at SAAM

Saisha Grayson, curator of time-based media at SAAM, discusses the pop-up exhibition for the June 9 celebration of Pride.

Still from Julie Dash's

Beyond Black Boxes and Gender Barriers: A Year of Time-Based Media at SAAM

Curator of Time-Based Media at SAAM talks about upcoming initiatives emphasizing women artists and LGBTQ+ perspectives.

Barbara Kruger, Untitled (We Will No Longer Be Seen and Not Heard), 1985, 9 prints, photo-offset lithograph and screenprint, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, VR.1986.50A-I

World AIDS Day

A blog post to commemorate World AIDS Day, December 1, 2018