Gilane Tawadros was the founding director of the Institute of International Visual Arts (Iniva) in London, chaired by Stuart Hall. She has written extensively on contemporary art and curated a number of international exhibitions. She was the first art historian to be appointed to the Blanche, Edith and Irving Laurie Chair in Women’s Studies at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Her most recent book is ‘The Sphinx Contemplating Napoleon: Global Perspectives on Contemporary Art and Difference’. Currently the chief executive of DACS, a not-for-profit visual artists rights management organisation, in October 2022 she will take up the post of director of Whitechapel Gallery, London.