Alpesh Kantilal Patel, PhD

Alpesh Kantilal Patel, PhD

Associate Professor of Global Contemporary Art Art History

Email alpesh.patel@temple.edu

Direct Tyler, 201H

Website alpeshkpatel.com

Alpesh Kantilal Patel smiling at the camera.

Photo by Joseph V. Labolito

Alpesh Kantilal Patel (they/them) develops queer, transcultural, and anti-racist approaches to contemporary art and art history across scholarship, curatorial practice, criticism, and teaching.

Patel’s scholarship examines how art histories are written through relational, non-linear, and multi-sited forms of storytelling, particularly in relation to contemporary art, diaspora, and decolonial methodologies.

They are the author of Multiple and One: Writing Queer Global Art Histories (in press) and Productive Failure: Writing Queer Transnational South Asian Art Histories, and editor of Storytellers of Art Histories. Their scholarship, criticism, and curatorial work span academic publishing, exhibition-making, and collaborative public programming.

Curatorial projects include exhibitions and programs organized with UrbanGlass, Miami Beach Urban Studios, and institutions in the United States and Europe. Their work has been supported by a Fulbright award and fellowships and residencies in the United States and Europe.

Patel is co-editor of the Re-thinking Art’s Histories series at Manchester University Press, Associate Editor of Visual Arts, Architecture, and Art History for ASAP/J, and serves on the editorial advisory board of the Getty Research Journal. Previously, they served as Chair of the Editorial Board of Art Journal and Art Journal Open, and as editor of contemporary art book reviews for caa.reviews.

Education

PhD, Art History and Visual Studies, University of Manchester, England

BA, History of Art, Yale University

Selected Awards

Wyeth Foundation for American Art Publication Grant from the College Art Association (2026)

Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, Poland (2015–16)

Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art Research Grant (2025)

Danish Arts Foundation Curatorial Research Grant (2025)

Headlands Center for the Arts Artist Residency (2024)

Cranbrook Academy of Art Critical Global Studies Fellowship (2016)

Selected Work

Books and Edited Volumes

Patel, Alpesh Kantilal. Multiple and One: Writing Queer Global Art Histories (in press).

Patel, Alpesh Kantilal. Productive Failure: Writing Queer Transnational South Asian Art Histories
(2017). https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781784992545/

Patel, Alpesh Kantilal and Yasmeen Siddiqui, eds. Storytellers of Art Histories: Living and Sustaining a Creative Life (2022). https://www.intellectbooks.com/storytellers-of-art-histories

Edited Journal Projects

Patel, Alpesh Kantilal, Jane Chin Davidson, Rachael Grew, and Marsha Meskimmon, eds. “What Can Trans Do? Trans Terms for Eco-criticism and Decoloniality in Art’s Histories.” Art Journal 84, no. 2 (Summer 2026, in press).

Patel, Alpesh Kantilal, Jane Chin Davidson, and Chika Okeke-Agulu, eds. “Curatorial Impacts – The Futures of Okwui Enwezor (1963–2019).” Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art 48, no. 1 (2021). https://www.dukeupress.edu/okwui-enwezor

Patel, Alpesh Kantilal and Jane Chin Davidson, eds. “TRANS-ASIA” dossier. ASAP/J 9, no. 3 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1353/asa.2024.a957246

Selected Essays

Patel, Alpesh Kantilal. “Forever Becoming: Teaching ‘Transgender Studies Meets Art History’ and Theorizing Trans Joy.” Arts 13, no. 4 (2024). https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13040115

Patel, Alpesh Kantilal. “Reflecting on Whiteness in Recent Contemporary Artwork Exploring Transnational Poland.” In The Routledge Companion to Decolonizing Art History, edited by Tatiana Flores, Florencia San Martin, and Charlene Villaseñor Black (2023). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003152262-32

Patel, Alpesh Kantilal. “Post/Anti/Neo/De-Colonial Theory and Visual Analysis.” In A Companion to Contemporary Art in a Global Framework, edited by Amelia Jones and Jane Chin Davidson (2023). https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119841814.ch24

Curatorial Projects

“Forever Becoming: Decolonization, Materiality, and Trans*Subjectivity,” three exhibitions organized for UrbanGlass, New York City (2023–24). https://www.alpeshkpatel.com/curatorial-practice