Ngaire Blankenberg (born ) is a Canadian-born South African museum designer, consultant, and administrator. She is a former director of the Smithsonian

National Museum of African Art The National Museum of African Art is the Smithsonian Institution's African art museum, located on the National Mall of the United States capital. Its collections include 9,000 works of traditional and contemporary African art from both Sub-S ...

Early life and education

Blankenberg's parents are South African and she was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her mother is White and her father is

Coloured Coloureds ( af, Kleurlinge or , ) refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in Southern Africa who may have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, including African, European, and Asian. South ...

(and albino); they had relocated to Canada as their

interracial marriage Interracial marriage is a marriage involving spouses who belong to different races or racialized ethnicities. In the past, such marriages were outlawed in the United States, Nazi Germany and apartheid-era South Africa as miscegenation. In 19 ...

was illegal in South Africa at that time. She earned a journalism degree from

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning World ...

and worked for 12 years in television and documentaries, including a year as a videographer on the CBC newsmagazine series ''

Road Movies A road movie is a film genre in which the main characters leave home on a road trip, typically altering the perspective from their everyday lives. Road movies often depict travel in the hinterlands, with the films exploring the theme of alienati ...

'',Bill Anderson
"In Road Movies, CBC lets youths tell own tales; Network gets fresh viewpoints - and a TV series for $100,000 an episode"
''

Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...

'', July 17, 1992. before moving to South Africa to study

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...

and

cultural studies Cultural studies is an interdisciplinary field that examines the political dynamics of contemporary culture (including popular culture) and its historical foundations. Cultural studies researchers generally investigate how cultural practices re ...

, earning a masters degree from the

University of Natal The University of Natal was a university in the former South African province Natal which later became KwaZulu-Natal. The University of Natal no longer exists as a distinct legal entity, as it was incorporated into the University of KwaZulu-N ...

. She moved back to Canada and began working as a museum designer and consultant.

Museum career

Blankenberg has worked with the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...

in Ottawa, Superblue Miami, the museum at

Constitution Hill, Johannesburg The Constitution Hill precinct is located at 11 Kotze Street in Braamfontein, Johannesburg near the western end of the suburb of Hillbrow. Constitution Hill is the seat of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. History The hill was formerly ...

, and the

Canadian Museum for Human Rights The Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR; ) is a Canadian Crown corporation and national museum located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, adjacent to The Forks. The purpose of the museum is to "explore the subject of human rights with a special but not ex ...

in Winnipeg. She is noted for her expertise in developing

decolonization Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on separatism, in ...

plans for cultural institutions as well as concept development and public engagement. Blankenberg has worked as a consultant with Dutch design firm Kossmann.dejong and with Toronto-based Lord Cultural Resources, where she was principal consultant. In 2016, along with Lord co-founder Gail Lord, she co-edited ''Cities, Museums and Soft Power'' for the

American Alliance of Museums American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

. Lord and Blankenberg argued that the concept of

soft power In politics (and particularly in international politics), soft power is the ability to co-opt rather than coerce (contrast hard power). In other words, soft power involves shaping the preferences of others through appeal and attraction. A defin ...

should be expanded from the political sphere to include "cultural and urban life." From 2021 until 2023, she was the director of the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

When she was appointed director on July 7, 2021, she announced her ambition to "redefine, heal and reconcile". During her tenure, Blankenberg was a leading advocate for

repatriation Repatriation is the process of returning a thing or a person to its country of origin or citizenship. The term may refer to non-human entities, such as converting a foreign currency into the currency of one's own country, as well as to the pro ...

of artifacts in the museum's collection, and in 2022 the museum returned 29 looted

Benin Bronzes The Benin Bronzes are a group of several thousand metal plaques and sculptures that decorated the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin, in what is now Edo State, Nigeria. Collectively, the objects form the best examples of Benin art and were cre ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. Blankenberg resigned from her position on March 31, 2023, citing "individual and institutional resistance". Following her resignation, Blankenberg returned to South Africa.

Selected publications

* * Reviews of ''Cities, Museums and Soft Power'': * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blankenberg, Ngaire Living people 1972 births Writers from Winnipeg Black Canadian people Coloureds Canadian people of South African descent Carleton University alumni University of Natal alumni Directors of the National Museum of African Art Women museum directors South African consultants 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers 21st-century South African women writers 21st-century South African non-fiction writers Canadian consultants