The Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas, Austin has named Claudia Zapata its inaugural associate curator of Latino art. The position came as a part of the museum’s initiative – announced last February – to advance Latino Art, alongside the gifting and purchasing of 5650 artworks and the opening of two new gallery spaces dedicated to support Latino art. Zapata will commence their position in July.
Currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles, they have previously worked on the exhibition ¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now, curated by E. Carmen Ramos at Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C.. From 2010 to 2014, Zapata served as a curator of exhibitions and programs at Austin’s Mexic-Arte Museum, where they brought together the solo exhibitions of major Latinx artists including Sam Coronado, Arturo García Bustos and José Guadalupe Posada. Zapapta received a doctorate in 2022 from Southern Methodist University, and both their MA and BA in art history from the University of Texas.
