Keelan Overton

Clark Fellow

Fall 2025-2026

A photograph of Keelan Overton. She has long blonde hair and smiles.

Keelan Overton is an independent scholar and art historian based in Santa Barbara, California, specializing in the Perso-Islamic world from Iran to India. Her publications have explored topics such as patterns of collecting and museology in the field of “Islamic art,” diachronic histories of manuscripts and buildings, and cultural relations between Iran and the Deccan. Since 2021, she has directed an independent, interdisciplinary, and international research project devoted to the Emamzadeh Yahya shrine complex at Varamin, Iran. The first outcome of this project is a website that charts alternative paths in museology, publishing, collaboration, and accessibility.