ZAINAB FLOYD

Zainab Floyd is a Haitian and African American archivist, curator, writer, and movement artist born and based in New York. She is interested in utilizing poetry, film, sound and movement as a map for connecting the body and mind to the historical legacy of rebellion.  Zainab is invested in the multi-faceted expressions of the Black Caribbean and the African diaspora. She has conducted research in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, Bahia, Brazil, and Paris, France.  Zainab’s work has been exhibited and screened at Photoville, BAM, Metrograph, Paul Robeson Galleries at Rutgers University, New York University, and The Studio Museum in Harlem. She is also featured in Teen Vogue, Studio Magazine, Aperture, Hyperallergic, and the Huffington Post.

She is the founder and artistic director of Caribbean Archive. A curatorial project dedicated towards providing free and accessible programs that center Black Caribbean women and femme artists who have created a scholarship of work that is representative of agency and resistance. In 2025, Zainab participated in the Library of Africa and The African Diaspora’s “Black Atlantic” writing residency. During her time in Ghana, she visited archival sites such as the Dikan Center, Du Bois Centre, and the institute of Ghana African Studies at the University of Ghana. Her experience in Ghana led her to further explore the cultural exchange between African and Black American artists. This journey brought her to the Louis Armstrong House Museum, where she now serves as the Louis Armstrong in Ghana Archival Fellow.

She is excited to continue to dive into Louis Armstrong’s life work, and to build out programming that will take place in West Africa. As a longtime fan of jazz music and the legacy it continues to champion, Zainab is honored to work at what she defines as a dream institution. Outside of her professional work Zainab is a cat lover, cinephile and a diva on the dance floor!

Image taken by Courtney D. Garvin