Instagram story viewer> @erkuml> Tagged

Erika Umali

@erkuml

1.4K

followers

2164

following

🇵🇭+⚜️🇨🇦= 👩🏽
Curator of Collections @icaboston 🖼️
Previously @brooklynmuseum 🏛️

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Visited the ‘To My Best Friend’ exhibition at @icaboston. I enjoyed the variety of perspectives and mediums on display.

“To My Best Friend celebrates art and artists, reflecting the ICA’s history of presenting leading contemporary voices…Longtime friends and supporters Fotene Demoulas and Tom Coté have played an essential role in shaping its direction. Their sustained focus on historically underrepresented and women artists at all stages of their careers reflects a deep engagement with the ICA and a shared belief in contemporary art’s capacity to build community and broaden visibility for diverse perspectives.”
https://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/to-my-best-friend/

#blackart #art #museum #contemporaryart #blackartists

3

0

The Northeast Regional
•
Featuring: the Harvard Lampoon’s Sesquicentennial and related dress codes • a very good tuna salad sandwich on challah bread at @asarocafe in Cambridge with @erkuml • those dudes at @cooperhewitt’s ‘Art of Noise’ • Joan Semmel at @thejewishmuseum • the lobby installation of Carol Bove at @guggenheim because I didn’t have time to walk the incline • a new @newmuseum and all that it implies • and being at my wits ends with MTA stations and elevators out of service • 💗

58

5

I survived my first ABMB.

Art highlights post coming soon, but for now happy to have spent a few days with @erkuml watching her do her thing. And I’m even happier to have finally had the opportunity to ride the downtown Miami people mover!! Truly a highlight.

46

2

Thrilled to celebrate the opening of An Indigenous Present @icaboston with so many artist friends. Spanning 100 years of contemporary Indigenous art, the exhibition includes new commissions and significant works by 15 artists who use strategies of abstraction to represent personal and collective narratives, describe specific and imagined places, and build upon cultural and aesthetic traditions.

Co-organized by Jeffrey Gibson @jeffrune and curator Jenelle Porter @jpo3000, the exhibition offers an expansive consideration of Indigenous art practices and highlights a continuum of elders and emerging makers, including newly commissioned works by Raven Chacon, Caroline Monnet, and Anna Tsouhlarakis.

An Indigenous Present emerges from Gibson and Porter’s seminal 2023 publication, which brought together work by Native North American artists exploring diverse approaches to concept, form, and medium.

Congratulations to the artists featured in this landmark show:
Teresa Baker (Mandan/Hidatsa) @tttttbaker
Raven Chacon (Diné) @ravenchcn
Sky Hopinka (Ho-Chunk Nation) @shifty_shellmound
Sonya Kelliher-Combs (Iñupiaq and Koyukon Athabascan) @kellihercombs
Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill (Cree and Métis) #gabriellehirondellehill
George Longfish (Seneca and Tuscarora) #georgelongfish
Dakota Mace (Diné) @dmaceart
Kimowan Metchewais (Cree) #kimowanmetchewais
Caroline Monnet (Algonquin-Anishinaabe) @cocomonnet
George Morrison (Ojibwe) #georgemorrison
Audie Murray (Cree and Métis) @chi.fii_
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation) @jaunequicktoseesmith
Mary Sully (Yankton Dakota) #marysully
Anna Tsouhlarakis (Navajo, Creek, and Greek) @annatskis
Kay WalkingStick (Cherokee and Anglo) @kaywalkingstick

3

5

🔥🔥 Go mentor, that’s my mentor 🔥🔥

We are STOKED to announce the first half of mentors for the 2026 year-long mentorship program! Let’s hear it for @vobot @erkuml @angelique.saine @ruesaintpaul @juliehong @shiaboogy @elizabeth_ai @ramita.ravi @medha.jaishankar @jenniferzhenyu @gabenoogen !! We’re thrilled to welcome back some of our favourite mentors and introduce some new powerhouses to the mix. Stay tuned for the second half of our mentor class coming soon 🌸

Mentee applications close November 3, 2025! Don’t miss out on a chance to be mentored by one of these amazing women – check out the link in bio to apply!

Photo for Erika Umali by: Jonathan Javier Dorado
Photo for Jennifer Tam by: Jessica Xie

3

17

My deepest thanks to all the friends and family that came out last Thursday to @miles.mcenery.gallery for the opening of ‘coming home’. And of course so much gratitude to Miles, Avery, Alissa, Julia, Lacosta, and everyone else at the gallery. What a great night with great folks!

291

38

Today’s burger of the day is the EriKale burger, served with Kobe beef, Kimchi, and Kale on a Kaiser role.

27

3

PORTRAITS at the ICA/Boston, curated by Erika Umali. I have just received the beautiful installation pictures by Mel Taing @m.ltaing and am reminded again how important this exhibition is and how grateful I am to the @icaboston @erkuml @rutherickson for including my work alongside so many of my photo and art heroes and inspiration.

My images of Samira, a young Palestinian woman born and raised in a refugee camp, portrayed here at the age of 5, 13, and 21, are very special to me because she is so special to me. I developed a special relationship with Samira since she was 5 years old and her story is the story of so many. A third generation Palestinian born in a refugee camp.

Shown in the images above: Deana Lawson, Nan Goldin, Latoya Ruby Frazier, Anthony Hernandez, Chantal Joffe, Alice Neel, John Ahearn, Henry Taylor, Marlene Dumas, Aliza Nisenbaum, and more.

I am very grateful to Michelle Morphew for her generosity and support ❤️ @michellemorphew

Exhibition is up until January 4, 2026.

3

36

Missing my BkM peeps but so happy to see you this week ❤️ You remind me everyday that you are only as old as you feel - love you so much!

177

7

Patiently waiting for summer.

1. Boston Common at its finest.

2. Seafood tower at @reelhouseoysterbar.

3-5. Linen season, cherry trees and ICA Boston archives.

6-7. @bostonballet’s Roméo et Juliette led by principal dancers @jeffreycirio and @dancechae.

8-9. Afternoon sailing at the Charles with @sailcbi.

10. Tagliatelle Emilia-Romagna finished by a 12-year balsamico at @lapadronaboston.

11-12. Vernissage of ‘Home Less Home’ the awe-inspiring installation of @chiharushiota at @icaboston Watershed.

13. Sorting the archives of the Institute of Contemporary Art with @erkuml, Curator of Collections at @icaboston.

14. Boston in a tall glass. If you know, you know. Friday night in Blind Duck at @rafflesboston.

15-17. Random shots. Waiting for this zebra to arrive.

18. The new Mediterranean menu at @amar_boston. Must try: Morel mushrooms, grilled Halibut, Ricotta gnocchi with caviar.

19-20. Afterwork @redsox fun with the team at Fenway Park.

3

2

Such a beautiful place to be with friends … and on the dance floor at 3am.

32

0

@sarahszestudio in the house chatting with @rutherickson ?! #minicherrytarts ?! #enormouspeonies ?!
#womenartists ?!
#noraburnsabrams first women's luncheon?!
#erikaumali explaining her Portraits show?!
No lie, all this happened and then some at the @icaboston yesterday and it was 🤩👏🏽🎨💗❤️‍🔥🔥🌸!

Congratulations Sarah Sze on receiving the inaugural Meraki Artist Award, bestowed yesterday and funded for ten years by Fotene Demoulas.

Meraki is a Greek word which means to do something with soul, love and creativity. Fotene funds this award to recognize the work of important contemporary women artists. Nora will continue to champion this mission as she takes the Director reins from #jillmedvedow .

Yesterday's ICA Women's Luncheon was a celebration of talent, imagination, camaraderie and moxie. The women and men in the room are fighting for the arts, living lives of creativity and passion, no matter how many roadblocks are put in the way.

Thank you @icaboston and thank you to @jenniferepstein for hosting with me and to our inspiring table #23 . #kategilbert #lisatung #rachelperry #cicelycarew #evalundsager #zainabsumu #jenniferepstein #audreyepsteinreny #crystallelacouture

3

9