John Bowles received his Ph.D. from UCLA in 2002 and is a graduate of the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program. He is an historian of African American art, who works from the assumption that art plays an important role in determining how we see ourselves as morally responsible individuals. In his research and teaching, he attempts to convey the urgency of art by addressing moral and political dilemmas we would often rather ignore. He has published articles and art criticism in various journals and has recently completed a book that examines the work of artist Adrian Piper. He is currently writing a book that explores how African American artists have engaged simultaneously with modernism, globalization and diaspora from the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s until today.