I am a doctoral fellow at Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History.
My thesis examines the later, 1960s – 1970s, work of Chilean-born Surrealist artist Roberto Matta (1911-2002) from a transnational perspective, expanding dominant art historical narratives on Matta’s relation with Surrealism. This doctoral project makes a significant contribution to existing scholarship on Matta and global Surrealism by tracing the personal trajectories of the artist during the later period of the movement, which has recently become the focus of scholarly attention. Far from being in decline, Surrealist activity remained firmly committed to its principle of revolt, a commitment exemplified in Matta’s later work. In my thesis, I situate Matta’s artistic production from the 1960s and 1970s in relation to social, political, and cultural concerns in Europe and Latin America. By contextualising Matta’s work, I examine how the artist integrated art and politics in works made in response to social upheavals and revolutionary struggles from this period.
During my PhD, I have published material related to my project, including the peer-reviewed article “Between the Museum and the Street: Roberto Matta’s Works in Chile during the Unidad Popular” in the Bulletin of Latin American Research (2022); a chapter in the forthcoming The Routledge Companion to Surrealism (2022) focusing on the intersections of Surrealism and politics in the Caribbean in the 1940s; and two forthcoming essays, one in an edited volume on Surrealism and occultism published by Fulgur Press (forthcoming, 2023), and one in my forthcoming (2022) guest-edited special issue of the Journal of Surrealism and the Americas.
Education
MA in History of Art, University College London
MA in Art History and Theory, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
BA in English Literature and Linguistics, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Scholarships, Fellowships & Research Grants
Predoctoral Fellowship, Department Weddigen, Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History
Becas Chile PhD Scholarship, National Research and Development Agency (ANID), 2019-2023
Birkbeck University School Award to participate in the London Critical Theory Summer School, Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, 2022
Postgraduate Research Expenses fund, Edinburgh College of Art, 2019-2021
Travel Grant, Association for Art History (AAH), 2021
Travel Grant, Society for Latin American Studies (SLAS), 2021
Teaching
HoA2A: Reason, Romance, Revolution: Art from 1700 to 1900 (2020-2021)
HoA2B: From Modernism and the Avant-Gardes to Postmodernism and Globalisation (2020-2021, 2021-2022)
Other Academic Activities
Convenor, Film Screening Intimatta (2011) and conversation with artist Ramuntcho Matta, International Society for the Study of Surrealism (ISSS) Annual Conference, 17-20 November 2022, Online
Co-convenor, Book Launch: This Must be the Place: An Oral History of Latin American Artists in New York, 1965–1975 by Aimé Iglesias-Lukin (November 2022), Latin American Studies and Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh
Co-convenor, 2022 Summer Symposium on Art and Activism, organised by the Association for Art History Doctoral and Early Career Research Committee
Co-convenor, Reading Group ‘Paradoxes and double-speak: responding to Howardena Pindell’s work on art world racism’ (April 2022), Howardena Pindell: A New Language Exhibition at Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh
Co-convenor, Emerging Researchers Symposium: New Themes and Ideas in Iberian and Latin American Art History (July 2021), Zurbarán Centre for Spanish and Latin American Art, Durham University
Convenor Session “Surrealism in 1960s and 1970s Latin America” (April 2021), Association for Art History (AAH) Annual Conference, University of Birmingham
Convenor Dada & Surrealism Research Group (2020-2021), Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh
