Lynne Lee is a Teaching Fellow in the Program in Writing and Communication. As an art historian, her research interests include modern and contemporary Afro-Brazilian art, the history of eugenics and theories of race in Brazil, and, more broadly, Afro-diasporic art. She has taught courses on race and art in Latin America and on the material culture of the African diaspora in the Americas. In 2026, she received the Graduate Teaching Award for Independent Instruction from the Center for Teaching Excellence at Rice University. Her research article, book review, and artist interview have been published in Ideias, African Arts, and C& América Latina.

Advisor 

Fabiola López-Durán

DISSERTATION TITLE

“Black Art in White Narratives: Early Afro-Brazilian Art History at the Crossroads of Science and Aesthetic”

Lee is currently writing a dissertation on the early reception of Black art in Brazil. By focusing on four medically trained scholars who authored some of the first publications on Afro-Brazilian art, she examines the intersections between race theories, eugenics, modernization, and the writing of art history in Brazil. Her broader interests include the history and culture of the African diaspora in the Americas. 

Publications

“Dismantling Archival Images: Rosana Paulino’s Collages as a Vehicle of Paradox,” Ideias (May 2025).

Review of Insignificant Things: Amulets and the Art of Survival in the Early Black Atlantic by Matthew Francis Rarey. African Arts (forthcoming).

“Nádia Taquary: Uncovering Afro-Brazilian Stories,” C& América Latina, May 15, 2024, https://amlatina.contemporaryand.com/editorial/nadia-taquary-uncovering-afro-brazilian-stories/