Ladan Akbarnia

Dr. Akbarnia comes to the Museum with 20 years of curatorial and research experience in the arts of the Islamic world, in particular from Iran, Central Asia and India. She has worked with reputable institutions across the world, including in her most recent role as Curator and Assistant Keeper for the Islamic Collections at The British Museum in London, where she was a lead curator for the Albukhary Foundation Gallery of the Islamic World. Akbarnia previously served as Executive Director at the Iran Heritage Foundation in London and Associate Curator of Islamic Art at the Brooklyn Museum. She has published extensively on a variety of topics, including cross-cultural transmissions between Iran and East Asia, Sufism and Islamic art, and contemporary Middle Eastern art. Included among her many languages are Persian, French, Arabic, and Spanish. She received a Master of Arts in art history from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Master of Arts and Ph.D. in the history of art and architecture from Harvard University.