Alex Patterson is Assistant Curator of Fine Art at National Museums Liverpool, based at the Walker Art Gallery. Her current research interests include 19th century British sculpture and addressing legacies of slavery, colonialism and empire. She was awarded an Understanding British Portraits (UBP) fellowship in 2021 which focused on ‘The Colonial Legacies of the Liverpool Sandbach Family’. Working closely with Liverpool’s marginalised communities, the project reinterpreted the family’s portraits and reviewed decolonising practices in the sector. More recently she has been awarded a Headley Fellowship from Art Fund to decolonise the Walker’s sculpture collection more broadly and continue to develop relationships with Liverpool’s young communities.
In the past Alex has led on two major exhibitions at the Walker Art Gallery, REALITY: Modern and Contemporary British Painting (2015) and Victorian Treasures (2017). At the Lady Lever Art Gallery she curated Whistler and Pennell: Etching the City (2018) and The Last Bohemian: Augustus John (2020).
Alex studied Fine Art at the University of Chester and completed her Masters in Art Gallery and Museums Studies at the University of Manchester in 2011. She also became an Associate of the Museums Association (AMA) in 2019.
