My friend Pamela Kember, who has died suddenly of a heart attack aged 66, was an art historian, critic and curator who championed the work of Asian artists, especially women.
She organised shows and fundraised at the Oxford Museum of Modern Art, lectured at Chelsea College of Art, and was head of arts and learning at Asia House, the Asian cultural centre in London, where her exhibitions, discussions and events were major features of its programme.
Pamela was born in Bury, Greater Manchester, daughter of Molly Tong, a psychiatric nurse, and Evan “Ken” Lloyd-Jones, a major in the Royal Corps of Transport. When she was 10 the family was posted to Hong Kong, where she quickly felt at home; but the idyll was shattered by demonstrations and bomb attacks against British rule.
She attended various schools in London, Hong Kong and Germany and then took her O- and A-levels at Bishop Fox’s school, in Taunton.
On leaving school, she married Christopher Ferris. They lived in Puriton, Somerset, and Pamela became an assistant at the Bridgwater library. In 1981, they moved to Taunton where they took over a bistro and she worked for a short time as a cook. When the couple separated, she went to Aberystwyth University to study art history and library studies, graduating in 1986.
After a year as a postgraduate researcher in the history of art at Oxford University in 1987 she became assistant librarian at the Ashmolean Museum’s western art library.
She and I met in 1989 when she moved from the Ashmolean to work as my assistant at the Oxford Museum of Modern Art. She made an immediate impact thanks to her affinity with artists from many different backgrounds and her seriousness and charm. She soon became head of external relations and an indispensable member of the small team, organising exhibitions of contemporary art. She consistently championed the work of female artists, especially from Asia.
In 1991 Pamela met the architect Paul Kember, and they married in 1995. The following year he moved to Hong Kong to establish an architectural practice with his twin brother, and she joined him in 1997.
Pamela was soon teaching art history and theory at the Baptist University, the Chinese University, and the Academy of Visual Arts. She became a researcher, collector, and promoter of Asian art, joined the board of the Asian Art Archive, and judged the Sovereign Asia arts prize. But she was most widely known as an arts correspondent for RTHK Radio 4.
At weekends, with Paul, she volunteered at Mothers’ Choice, a government-sponsored orphanage. Through this, they adopted their daughter, Maya.
In 2010 Pamela and Paul separated and Pamela moved with Maya to London, where she lectured on contemporary Asian art at Chelsea College of Art. In 2013 she became head of arts and learning at Asia House. From November 2019, she had been working independently.
She is survived by Maya and by her sister, Tina, and brother, David.
