Luis Vargas-Santiago

Beinecke Fellow

Spring 2025-2026

Luis Vargas-Santiago is a researcher and professor at the Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas (IIE) of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City. He works primarily on Latin American and Latinx art, with an emphasis on political commemoration, image migration, social movements, and queer studies. His most recent book, Las otras vidas de Zapata: Un ícono revolucionario en México y los Estados Unidos (México: IIE-UNAM/Trilce, 2025) examines the multifaceted legacy of Emiliano Zapata as a revolutionary icon in the US-Mexico binational space. His other books include the anthology Antonio Ruiz El Corcito: Montajes y escenas del México Moderno (México: Museo Amparo/IIE-UNAM, 2024) and Museums: Trends and Digital Strategy (Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2022). His work has been supported by the Getty Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Fulbright-García Robles Program, among others. He has also held positions at UNAM, including Deputy Director of Public Programs at the Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC) and Chief Curator of M68, the 1968 Student Movement Memorial. He has curated numerous exhibitions, including Emiliano. Zapata después Zapata at the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City, and Imágenes del Mexicano, co-curated with Dafne Cruz at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. At the Clark, Vargas-Santiago will work on a book project entitled Sur Marica: A Crossroads for the Arts of the Americas.