Rae Root

Rae Root’s interdisciplinary research asks how space is mediated by modern and contemporary art, visual culture, and design. They are interested in how identity and site are aesthetically co-constituted, both in the perspectives of distinct positionalities and representations of place-based collectivity. Their dissertation and first book project Picturing the Commons inquires how shared space is aesthetically characterized, and collective acts of commoning are performed, in contemporary North American art. Additional projects explore the entanglement of sexuality and environment, whether at rural lesbian lands or urban cruising grounds.

Prior to joining Barnard, Root held the Roy Lichtenstein Curatorial Fellowship at the Columbus Museum of Art (OH) (2024-2026), and completed their PhD in History of Art & Architecture at the University of Oregon, where they were a member of the environmental research collectives SlowLab and hivemind.