Jennifer Baez

Dr. Jennifer A. Baez, Assistant Professor of Art History in the School of Art + Art History + Design at University of Washington, specializes in the visual, material, and religious culture of Latin America and the African diaspora under the global Spanish empire. She received her PhD in art history from Florida State University, where she taught courses in museum studies and the history of African art. She also holds and MA in Art History from University of Arizona; and MA in Translation and Interpretation from Monterey Institute of International Studies, and a BFA in Painting and Printmaking (with a minor in Romance Languages) from SUNY Purchase College. Her current book project on the miraculous icon of the Virgin of Altagracia in colonial Hispaniola is a microhistory exploring intersections between Marian devotion, artistic practice, race, and the formation of Spanish Creole origin stories. She is also interested in contemporary Caribbean and Latinx art, and writes on monuments, heritage, and issues of gender, race, and representation.

Her work has appeared in several journals and academic platforms, including Hyperallergic, Small Axe, Arts, Smarthistory, and in the Art & Architecture ePortal of Yale University Press (forthcoming). Several grants and fellowships have supported her research, including a Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation award. She was also selected to participate in the 6th annual Curatorial Foundation Seminar hosted by the Mellon Foundation and the Center for Curatorial Leadership in New York City. Dr. Baez is currently working on an exhibition on salt and cross-cultural artistic exchange in the Black Mediterranean. Professional affiliations: College Art Association (CAA), Association of Latin American Art (ALAA), Renaissance Society of America (RSA), and the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) section for Haiti and the Dominican Republic.