Lisa Anderson

Lisa Anderson is a curator, cultural strategist and advisor working across artists, institutions and collectors. Currently Associate Director at Messums London, she also leads an independent consultancy focused on African diasporic art and cultural value.

With a background in Human Rights and International Relations, her work explores culture as social infrastructure, with a particular focus on curatorial practice as care and repair. She was previously Managing Director of the Black Cultural Archives and is the founder of Black British Art. Her recent projects include The Ground Beneath at Messums London and Soulscapes at Dulwich Picture Gallery.

Get to Know Me


What do you do in the art world?

I work as a curator and cultural strategist, supporting artists, collectors and institutions to engage more deeply with art and its wider significance. I work across exhibition-making, advisory and writing, but at its core, my practice is about shaping how art is experienced, understood and valued. I’m particularly focused on artists from the African diaspora and on the relationship between cultural value and economic value, how work is recognised, sustained and positioned over time.

What international art destination do you want to visit most?

Cape Town. There 's a special energy to the art scene there, a convergence of history, experimentation and global dialogue that feels both grounded and forward-looking. I’m especially interested in how artists and institutions are navigating questions of identity, memory and place in ways that resonate far beyond the local context.

How did you begin your career in the art world?

Art was always a point of connection for me, but I came to it professionally through a background in human rights and international relations. I was interested in how culture shapes understanding and public life, and over time that led me into curating as a way to work more directly with artists and ideas. From there, I began building my own platforms to support artists and contribute to the wider discourse.