Sona Datta

Sona Datta is an art historian, cultural collaborator, and museum curator, specializing in the visual culture of South Asia. Her work extends across museums, biennials, and television. As Head of South Asian art at the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts, she has expanded the purview of that museum's world-renowned Modern Indian Art Collection to now include the best contemporary art that references all of South Asia. She previously worked at the British Museum for eight years. She redefined the British Museum's engagement with modern collecting by acquiring contemporary art from Pakistan linked to the historical past. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Art History at Kings College, Cambridge, her Master of Arts in South Asian Studies at SOAS, and her Ph.D. at Cardiff on temple architecture in medieval Tamil Nadu. She lives in London with her husband and two boys.