Dr. Allison Young, assistant professor of art history, has been named a 2025-26 Smithsonian American Art Museum research fellow. As a Patricia and Phillip Frost Senior Fellow, Dr. Young will devote her fellowship to work on her forthcoming book Paper Trails: On Art and History in Plantationocene Louisiana.

“This book project in development examines contemporary art, public history, and material culture in Louisiana through the lens of the Plantationocene, a framework that places racial and environmental (in)justice at the heart of climate discourse. As a subset of the oft-cited Anthropocene theory, which suggests that human activity is now the primary factor impacting the Earth’s geology and environment, the Plantationocene acknowledges that the extractive logic of the Middle Passage and plantation agriculture is deeply connected to that of modern petrochemical and mining industries. It seems, at times, that no place embodies this correlation more aptly than Southern Louisiana, where Indigenous, settler-colonial, and Black Atlantic histories are overlaid with contemporary calls for racial and environmental justice, and efforts to preserve culture and collective memory are complicated by the threat of land loss and climate volatility. In turn, artists have used creative methods to address the fragility and trauma of the region’s past and future, utilizing symbolically charged materials and potent imagery: swamp rattan and sugar bagasse, monument plinths and petrochemical runoff, mud and soil, and flood-damaged photographs.”

Centering a materialist perspective, the book considers works of contemporary art alongside public history initiatives such as Paper Monuments (a transient, community-engaged response to the 2017 dismantling of four Confederate monuments in New Orleans), the Decolonized Walk of Bulbancha (a series of activist-led walking tours of New Orleans that highlighted sites significant to the history of Indigenous peoples prior to European colonization), and the Whitney Plantation (the only plantation museum in the country dedicated to memorializing the lives of enslaved individuals). Through a range of diverse artistic, historical, and visual culture case studies, Paper Trails parses the nuances of art, public memory, grassroots activism, and preservation efforts in a locale that is threatened to disappear within our lifetimes. 

Young’s research spans a wide array of topics within the discipline of art history, with a particular focus on the intersections of visual culture, history, and social movements. Throughout her career, she has consistently pushed the boundaries of traditional art history, seeking to understand the ways in which art functions within and reflects the broader contexts of race, gender, politics, and identity. Her scholarship has been widely praised for its depth, rigor, and interdisciplinary approach, making her one of the leading scholars in her field.

Young is assistant professor of contemporary art history at LSU, and an affiliate faculty member in the department of African and African American Studies (AAAS) at LSU. A specialist in postcolonial and contemporary art of the Global South, her scholarship centers primarily on African and African-Diasporic artists and art histories, with focus on questions surrounding migration, transnationalism, and political engagement in contemporary art. She has a book project on the work of South African artist Gavin Jantjes, and is engaged in research on the intersection of contemporary art, environmentalism, and social justice in Louisiana. She has published scholarly articles on contemporary artists, and has also contributed writing to numerous exhibition catalogues and books.

Her research projects often examine works of art in ways that go beyond the traditional aesthetic analysis, considering how they shape, and are shaped by, their cultural and political environments. Her recent projects have explored the role of art in social justice movements, and she is particularly known for her investigations into the ways that artists engage with issues of race and representation.

About the SAAM Fellowship

The museum will welcome twenty fellows for the 2025–26 academic year. Among this year’s cohort are four senior scholars, two postdoctoral fellows, twelve predoctoral fellows, and two Smithsonian Artist Research Fellows. Utilizing the Smithsonian’s vast collections, they will research the impact of music on the visual arts, works of craft produced by Black artists and artisans, artist-built environments in landscapes slated for urban development, and more.

Since 1970, the museum has provided 809 scholars with financial aid, unparalleled research resources, and a world-class network of colleagues. Former fellows now occupy positions in prominent academic and cultural institutions across North and South America, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, and Europe.