Rocío Aranda-Alvarado is Curator at El Museo del Barrio where she is working on A Brief History of (Some) Things, an exhibition exploring the persistence of Mesoamerican and Indigenous Caribbean imagery in contemporary art. She recently organized MUSEUM STARTER KIT: Open With Care, celebrating the 45^th anniversary of El Museo, and LA BIENAL 2013, El Museo’s biennial of emerging artists, as well as the permanent collection exhibition for 2013-14. Her curatorial work and research focuses on modern and contemporary art of the Americas. She is the former curator of Jersey City Museum, where she organized significant retrospective exhibitions of the work of Chakaia Booker (2004) and Raphael Montañez Ortiz (2006) and group shows on various themes including Tropicalisms: Subversions of Paradise (2006), The Superfly Effect (2004), and The Feminine Mystique (2007). Ms. Aranda-Alvarado is also on the adjunct faculty of the Art Department at the City College of New York. Her writing has appeared in various publications including catalogue essays for the Museum of Modern Art and the National Gallery, Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art, Art Nexus, Review, the journal of the Americas Society, NYFA Quarterly, Small Axe, BOMB and American Art. Born in Santiago, Chile, Rocío Aranda-Alvarado is Curator at El Museo del Barrio. She received degrees in Art History from Univ. of Maryland, Tulane University and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her curatorial work and research focuses on modern and contemporary art of the Americas.

Author headshot by Andrew Demirjian.