Selected Media and Press
The mutual joy of James Baldwin’s many brilliant friends
Washington Post, July 24, 2024
Washington, DC, through the Scurlock Lens
National Gallery of Art (February, 2023)
Webby Award Winner: Regeneration Black Cinema
Webby Awards (May 2023)
Serena and Venus Williams and Ava DuVernay Tapped Rising-Star Artists to Paint Their Portraits for the Smithsonian
Artnet (November 2, 2022)
Inside the 2022 National Portrait Gala, Vanity Fair, November 11, 2022
Exhibit reveals role of Black Americans in shaping film industry: ‘This history has never been shown’,
The Guardian (August 19, 2022)
A new Academy Museum exhibit gives early Black trailblazers in film their due,
The LA Times (August 19, 2022)
Women Leaders: Rhea Combs, Curatorial Affairs Director, Nat’l Portrait Gallery,
The Georgetowner (May 12, 2022)
National Portrait Gallery Extends ‘The Obama Portraits Tour’ to San Francisco and Boston,
Shondaland (May 12, 2021)
National Portrait Gallery Extends ‘The Obama Portraits Tour’ to San Francisco and Boston,
Smithosonian Magazine
Dr. Rhea L. Combs on Thinking Critically About Art and Culture. Shondaland
Rhea L. Combs Named Director of Curatorial Affairs at Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.,
Culture Type (4 April, 2021)
Detroiter will focus on innovation, inclusion as new curator of National Portrait Gallery,
Detroit Free Press (8 April, 2021)
Embarrassment of Riches, Three prominent archives of rare materials that document the history of Black film land in Los Angeles. Alta (22 February 2021)
Chadwick Boseman’s Career Amplified Black Culture, History, WSJ (29 August 2020)
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will open in December, LA TImes (February 2020)
Trove of Stunning Dance Photography Now Online,
Smithsonian Magazine (January 2020)
A Newly Uncovered Photograph of a Young Harriet Tubman Offers a Different View of the Abolitionist Pioneer,
Artnet (March 2019)
12 Leaders Who Are Shaping the Next Generation of Artists,
Time Magazine (February 2019)
Sotheby’s Prize Goes to Black Cinema Survey at Academy Museum in Los Angeles,
ArtNews (December 2019)
Smithsonian’s new film festival offers opportunity — and hope — to filmmakers of color,
The Washington Post (October 2018)
Watching Oprah: exhibition dedicated to star who 'chronicled an ever-changing America',
The Guardian (June 2018)
Watching Oprah: exhibition dedicated to star who 'chronicled an ever-changing America',
The Guardian (June 2018)
Oprah Winfrey is part of American history — and now has the museum exhibition to prove it,
The Washington Post (June 2018)
An Inside Look at DC’s New Oprah Exhibit,
The Washingtonian (June 2018)
Photographing Hip-Hop’s Golden Era,
The New York Times (February 23, 2018)
‘Watching Oprah,’ A New Smithsonian Exhibit, Is Like Watching America,
HuffPost (June 2018)
Oprah Earned This Museum Show. And It’s a Potent Spectacle.
The New York Times (June 2018)
The Oprah exhibit at NMAAHC shows Oprah is even more influential than you thought,
The Undefeated (July 2018)
From Duke Ellington to Public Enemy: Images of Hip-Hop and Its Cultural Roots,
The New York Times
Vintage Photos Recall the Early Days of Hip-Hop, Before it Became a Billion-Dollar Industry,
The New York Times
African American History Seen Through an African-American Lens,
The New York Times / Lens (Dec 19, 2017)
Giving Birth to History,
The Farmville Herald (July 29, 2015)