Mirella Maria
Position title: Ph.D. Candidate; 2026/27 Dissertation Fellow CENTRO (Center for Puerto Rican Studies - CUNY)
Email: mmaria@wisc.edu
Website: Mirella Maria's website
Address:
she/her/hers
Education
B.A. São Paulo State University, Brazil, 2015
M.A. São Paulo State University, Brazil, 2018
M.A. University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2024
Ph.D. Candidate, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Research Interests
Latin American Visual Culture; African and Afro Diasporic Art; Curatorial Practices; Social Museology.
Biography
Mirella Maria is a visual artist, researcher, and teacher, and a Ph.D. candidate in Art History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her dissertation, Digital Curatorial Quilombismo: A Relational Study of Digital Curatorial Strategies in Afrodiasporic Art Spaces in Brazil, Colombia, and Puerto Rico, is advised by Jill H. Casid. She is a 2026–2027 Dissertation Fellow at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (Centro), Hunter College, CUNY, and was a participant in the 2026 CCL/Mellon Seminar in Curatorial Practice at the Center for Curatorial Leadership. She holds degrees in Visual Arts and Arts from São Paulo State University (UNESP, Brazil) and has worked as an art educator, trainer, and consultant in museums, cultural centers, and art schools. As a visual artist, she participated in the XII Bienal do Mercosul. She studies Afrodiasporic art and art institutions in Latin America, focusing on race, gender, and (de)colonial histories.
Publications
“Decolonial and Heritage Practices in the Context of Current Global Challenges: Quilombola Museology and Digital Technologies in Brazilian Community Museums.” In Curating with Care, eds. Elke Krasny and Lara Perry. London: Routledge, 2023, 356–373.
“(In)curate Visualities: Educational Practices in the Works of Maria Auxiliadora da Silva and Andrea Hygino.” In Re-mapping Publications, ed. Marianela Diaz Cardoso. La Escuela / Stiftung Siemens, 2023, 12–25.
“Marias of My Life.” In Mercosul Biennial, eds. Fabiana Lopes and Andrea Giunta, 2020.
“Maria Auxiliadora: Embroidery and Painting.” In Maria Auxiliadora: daily life, painting and resistance, eds. Adriano Pedrosa and Fernando Oliva. São Paulo: MASP Publications, 2018.
Primary Advisor(s)
Jill H. Casid