Research & Publications

Talia’s research on art of the African continent spans time and geography. She has written and presented on royal collections in the interlucustrine region of eastern and central Africa, colonial and missionary photography in Rwanda, missionary and colonial collections, provenance research in museums, and the development of Rwanda’s national museums. Beyond these projects, her interests include ethical stewardship and repatriation and re-connecting communities with objects and archives in museums.

Talia has designed and carried out research projects internationally—in Rwanda, Germany, Belgium, and Italy—and domestically, in the U.S. in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles with the support of numerous fellowships, including a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship, a Smithsonian Institution Predoctoral Fellowship, the Fowler Museum at UCLA’s Ralph C. Altman Award, and a U.S. Student Fulbright Research Fellowship.

Lieber is completing her dissertation, “Rwanda in Form: Collections and Displays of a Kingdom’s Art in the Twentieth Century,” and intends to file in June 2025.