Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Hong.
Hi Jessica, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
When I was younger, while I would visit art museums regularly, I never understood that the arts could be a profession. My high school in Cambridge, MA, was very socially engaged and I decided to explore a career in diplomacy. After interning with an organization at the United Nations in college, I quickly realized this was not the path I wanted to take. During my sophomore year, I took an art history class solely to fulfill a requirement, and it changed the course of my life. I saw the power of the arts and artists, including how they are integral to society and the world writ large.
My first foray into the arts was at Exit Art, an alternative artist-run space originally based in SoHo and later moving north of Chelsea and below Hell’s Kitchen, which was a foundational and formative experience. After a range of other early professional endeavors from artist residencies to arts publications, I saw how museums could reach and engage wider audiences at PS1 (in Long Island City, NY, before it became incorporated with MoMA) while building community around it, making me want to pursue a career in art museums. Following a stint at a commercial art gallery in New York and graduate school, I worked at the Harvard Art Museums right before the reopening of their major expansion, the ICA/Boston joining a new curatorial team, and becoming the inaugural curator of global contemporary art at Dartmouth’s Hood Museum of Art. I made my first Midwest venture as Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Toledo Museum of Art. Following nearly four years in Toledo, delighted to now be the Chief Curator at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, MO, as we move into an exciting next chapter at the institution.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road is never entirely smooth. As there are so many inspiring practitioners, particularly in New York, it was and still is a challenging field to break into. When I was starting my professional trajectory, there was also a generational shift of what curatorial work looked like, moving to what was more in line with my ethos of being socially conscious and communally-minded, but it would still take some time for institutions to embrace that, which happened later in my career and is still, and will always be, durational and enduring work.
Moreover, early on (and unfortunately, this still is the case in many instances), it was a field that did not include those representing marginal identities, especially in positions of authority, so having to navigate this world where I was constantly questioned about my status, questioned where I was “really from,” and having people project damaging stereotypes of Asian women onto my person, if I had a perspective or voice, let alone ambition, it was met with disdain and refusal. However, I am beyond grateful to the incredible friends and confidantes, peers and mentors (from professors to supervisors) that have been and continue to be supportive along my professional journey. I am also indebted to my immediate family, especially my ride or die mom, who has and continues to be there throughout it all.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Having worked in a range of museums in the United States—around the East Coast and now in the Midwest—across the board, there is an interesting back-and-forth between artists from elsewhere and the local context in which the museum is situated. While it is imperative to get to know the context that I am working in to shape a relevant artistic program, my approach is one that is locally responsive while being globally minded to demonstrate that we have and always will be part of an interconnected sociocultural fabric.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Along with meeting people and gaining a range of experiences, it is about sustaining and growing those relationships over time. Rather than seeing networking and these professional relationships as transactional, it is imperative to ensure they are reciprocal, intentional, and genuine.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jessica-hong.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessica.s.hong/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jessica.hong.148/
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jessica-hong-54245528
