Melanie Keen (born 1967) is an arts professional and the director of theWellcome Collection.[1] She has worked extensively in promoting theBlack Arts Movement in the UK.[2]
Keen was born in 1967[3] and grew up in the East End of London, her parents of Afro-Caribbean background.[4] She studied at East Ham College of Technology in the 1980s, where she took inspiration fromSonia Boyce to pursue study of fine art. Later she achieved an MA in curating at theRoyal College of Art (RCA).[4]
Keen worked as an independent curator and consultant, supporting events and exhibitions such as theFrieze Art Fair and theVenice Biennale, also at Chelsea College of Art as a research assistant, and at Arts Council England.[1] She joinedIniva as an assistant curator, eventually becoming Director. She was appointed Director of the Wellcome Collection in June 2019.[2][5] She also sits on the advisory board of the Government Art Collection.[6]
She has been the subject of artwork itself, sitting for Dutch photographerCarla van de Puttelaar.[3]
In July 2022, Keen was awarded anhonorary doctorate by theUniversity of the Arts London.[7]
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