Taylor Bythewood-Porter is an independent curator and writer. In 2023, she received the American Association for State and Local History Award of Excellence for her exhibition Rights and Rituals: The Making of African American Debutante Culture (2021) at the California African American Museum (CAAM).
Prior to doing independent projects, Bythewood-Porter was an Assistant Curator at CAAM and co-curated Tatyana Fazlalizadeh: Speaking to Falling Seeds (2023), Cross Colours: Black Fashion in the 20th Century (2020), The Liberator: Chronicling Black Los Angeles, 1900–1914 (2019), Making Mammy: A Caricature of Black Womanhood, 1840–1940 (2019), California Bound: Slavery on the New Frontier, 1848–1865 (2018), and Los Angeles Freedom Rally, 1963 (2018), and also contributed to How Sweet the Sound: The History of Gospel Music in Los Angeles (2018), Circles and Circuits 1: History and Art of the Chinese Caribbean Diaspora (2017), and Lezley Saar: Salon des Refúse (2017).
Previously to her appointment at CAAM, she served as president and a founding member of SIA Curates, a curatorial organization run through Sotheby’s Institute of Art at Claremont Graduate University that connects aspiring curators with Claremont's MFA students to develop yearly exhibitions. Bythewood-Porter is also the recipient of the 2018 Travel Scholarship to attend the Association of African American Museums (AAAM) conference, a participant in the Independent Curators International (ICI) Curatorial Intensive New Orleans 2019, and a participant in the 2021 Professional Alliance for Curators of Color through the Association of Art Museums Curators Foundation (AAMC).
She holds a Master of Arts in art business with a concentration in contemporary art from Sotheby's Institute of Art at Claremont Graduate University and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications with a focus on public relations and journalism and a minor in art history from Monmouth University.
American Association for State and Local History, September 2023
Award of Excellence, Exhibitions
Saatchi Art, The Other Art Fair - Los Angeles, March 2023
Selection Committee
Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, Illuminate LA - Collective Memory, February 2023
Selection Committee
Artadia, 2022 Boston Artadia Awards, November 2022
Semi-final Juror
Geffen Playhouse, “Art Lives Here”, July 2022
Selection Committee
Civic Art Project Coordination Committee (PCC)
The Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC) Foundation, Professional Alliance for Curators of Color (PACC), April 2021—January 2022
Participant
Rema Hort Mann Foundation Emerging Artist Grant, January 2020
Los Angeles Nominating Committee Participant
Independent Curators International (ICI), March 2019
Curatorial Intensive Participant
Prospect 5 New Orleans, November 2018—March 2020
Curatorial Assistant
WGN-TV // African American debutante cotillion: Rooted in community, meaningful to families’ histories by Tyra Martin, Micha Materre, February 2024
SEIS Gallery // Hedy Torres in Conversation with Taylor Bythewood-Porter, November 2023
Camarillo Public Library // Women’s History Month: A Look Into Being a Museum Curator, March 2023
ACLU of Northern California // Gold Chains: ACLU slavery podcast featuring Taylor Bythewood-Porter, November 2022
Los Angeles Breakfast Club // Rights and Rituals: The Making of African American Debutante Culture, April 2022
California State University, Dominguez Hills // Art & Activism: Through the American American Experience, March 2022
Gurl Museum Day // Taylor Bythewood-Porter: IG Live, April 2021
California Lutheran University // "Why is Aunt Jemima Retiring?”: Black Caricature as Mnemonic Device, November 2020
Los Angeles Downtown News // Preserving a Point in Time In Los Angeles, July 2019
Spectrum News // IN FOCUS: Shaping California History, February 2019
LA Artcore // Erin Elizabeth Adams and H. Leslie Foster II: Call & Response, September 2024
Frieze Week Magazine // How “Focus” Gallerists “Reflect the Aura of Los Angeles”, February 2024
Sebastian Gladstone // Emmanuel Louisnord Desir: Born to Win, February 2024
Sotheby's Institute of Art // Taylor Bythewood-Porter Discusses Art Curation and the Importance of the Archive, August 2023
Prospect.5 New Orleans // Yesterday we said tomorrow, November 2021
Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art // Looking Forward, Spring 2021
California African American Museum: 600 State // #playlist: Holidays at Home, December 2020
California African American Museum: 600 State // #playlist: Sunday Morning Mix, June 2020
Canvas: A blog by Saatchi Art // Why Kara Walker Is So Important, November 2017