Who We Are

Eleanore Neumann is an art historian, curator, and digital humanist. In her research, she interrogates the histories of imperialism and colonialism as well as their contemporary legacies through a wide range of art and visual culture. As curator at the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia, Neumann works collaboratively with visiting artists, curators, Traditional Knowledge Holders, and scholars on exhibitions, special projects, and scholarship.

She has been involved with Kluge-Ruhe since 2018 when she co-curated Beyond Dreamings: The Rise of Indigenous Australian Art in the U.S. Her essay on the history of collecting Aboriginal art in the U.S. since the 1988 exhibition Dreamings was published in the exhibition catalog. Neumann was also the research assistant and catalog author for Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala. She then collaborated on a year-long research project aimed at rethinking Kluge-Ruhe’s collections as a culture-led platform for learning and sharing.

In her current role, Neumann organizes academic and exhibition-related programming, such as “Curating Indigenous Printmaking,” a Getty-funded curatorial workshop for First Nations curators organized together with the exhibition Shifting Ground; and “Nuclear Colonialism and the Art of Resistance,” a one-day symposium held in conjunction with the opening of an exhibition of paintings by Spinifex artists in March 2025. She also helps to engage students and the University of Virginia community with the collection through teaching, research, and digital projects.

Neumann is committed to amplifying First Nations voices and leadership, and the ongoing work of decolonizing and Indigenizing museums.

Nicole is a proud first-generation college student who has cared for museum collections at the University of Virginia for over 17 years, first at the Fralin Museum of Art (2007 – 2012) and at the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of UVA since 2012. As Senior Collections Manager and Registrar at Kluge-Ruhe, she is responsible for the ethical care and stewardship of the museum’s growing permanent collection, library, and archive. She regularly advises peer institutions on best practices in stewardship, housing, transporting, and installing Indigenous Australian art.

Recently, Nicole designed the mounts for and oversaw the care, conservation and installation of nearly 90 bark paintings in the monumental Madayin exhibition which travelled the United States from 2022 to 2025. She has collaborated on multiple successful consultation and repatriation projects that resulted in the return of secret and sacred items to Indigenous Australian communities. She is passionate about repatriation and reconnecting Indigenous Australian communities to their cultural heritage items held in the Kluge-Ruhe’s permanent collection through consultation and active custodianship.

Wade, N. (2024). Partnership, Collaboration, and Community Engagement: Reflections on Applied Repatriation in a Small Museum. Pacific Arts: The Journal of the Pacific Arts Association, 24(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.5070/PC224164362 Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/08r6w8pn

Jessica Wager is a Mvskoke person with Irish and Scottish ancestry, born in traditional Mvskoke homelands in what is now known as Georgia. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Indigenous Education from Arizona State University which focuses on advanced Indigenous theoretical concepts and relational practices to build the knowledge, context and talents needed to collaborate with Tribal Nations, Indigenous communities, and to strengthen Indigenous education programs. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in both Art History and Studio Arts with a concentration in photography from Randolph Macon College.

Wager’s work focuses on initiating, developing, and sustaining community partnerships which are based in mutually beneficial needs and goals; building and nurturing educational relationships that are grounded in humility, openness, appreciation, and reciprocity are at the core of her methodology and professional training. She previously worked at Washington and Lee University as the Curator of Academic Engagement at the Art Museum and as the Assistant Director of Institutional History, and while there was a founding member of the Native American and Indigenous Peoples Cohort. Before her tenure at W&L, Jessica was a gallery and curatorial assistant at Arader Galleries New York location, specializing in antique works on paper from the late 15^th to early 20^th century, from rare books, antique maps, travel atlases and globes, to American and European master prints, paintings, watercolors, and photographs.

Among her professional affiliations, she is a core member of the Virginia Indigenous Nations in Higher Education collective convened by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.