Latin American Women in Art and Science

With a focus on women artists working in Latin America since the 1970s, this panel seeks to contribute to studies that examine the visual culture of scientific and medical practices from a historical perspective. Interrogating the individual reception and historical repercussions of public health measures, it aims to dialogue with and broaden existing studies whose general geographical and chronological foci are on Europe, its colonies, and the United States at the turn of the 20^th century, as reflected, for instance, in the scholarship of art historian Rachael Z. DeLue and Anna Arabindan–Kesson, scholar of African-American and Black diasporic art. Specifically, this panel aims to examine the artistic deployment of scientific aesthetics and methods by joining recent art historical efforts that have brought to light the work of women artists, including the groundbreaking traveling exhibition Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960–1985 (2017–2018). Using different media and engaging with a wide range of aspects of social and medical sciences, the interdisciplinary orientation of Latin American women working on art and science may be expressed in their simultaneous pursuit of scientific careers, collaborations with scientists, and participation in public health initiatives. More broadly, the artistic practices discussed in this panel will speak to contemporary issues including the coronavirus pandemic, reproductive rights, digital surveillance, and the general control of individual bodies by systemic power structures. Together, this panel’s presentations will reveal interdisciplinary connections rooted in the historical engagements with both art and science undertaken by women artists in the Americas.