Russell, director of New York nonprofit space The Kitchen, published Black Meme: A History of the Images that Make Us this year, a book that follows the internet-plus-identity model established by her 2020 debut Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto. In Black Meme, Russell traces how, from the days of silent cinema to TikTok and GIFs, the Black subject has been reduced to archetype, not least via the hyperviolent ‘viral’ imagery of slain figures such as Emmett Till or Philando Castile, while likening the distribution of souvenir postcards of public lynchings to the sharing of memes. Russell isn’t just commenting on visual culture; she has a mission to change it. She told Vanity Fair, ‘Many people would agree that the artworld is in a state of disarray… We’re seeing many failures and also through those failures many opportunities to change.’ This year, the curator’s group show on ‘black data’, Code Switch: Distributing Blackness, Reprogramming Internet Art, organised by The Kitchen across various US venues, and a presentation at Berggruen Arts & Culture in Venice by artist and poet Rhea Dillon helped further that cause.