Kristin Enright is the first student to undertake the new Ph.D. in Arts of the Americas. Her research investigates the complex, global history of colonial Mexican Talavera ceramics in order to de-center dominant narratives about Latin America that are perpetuated by museums and the field of art history. Kristin’s practice of intervening in the frequent erasure of other narratives and the marginalization of colonial artworks in cultural institutions developed from her work with Latinx communities as a museum educator at the Art Institute of Chicago and the National Museum of Mexican Art. In these roles, Kristin managed programming for students, educators and docents that used culturally responsive pedagogy and works of art to increase student agency and facilitate access to language learning, historical thinking, and other academic areas. Her goal through graduate study is to create spaces for difficult objects like Talavera in museums in such a way that invites reflection and engenders a provocative space to apply critical theory. She looks forward to the opportunity to work with local museums to develop innovative decolonial programming and curatorial practices.
Kristin holds an M.A. in Art and Museum Studies from Georgetown University, an M.A. in Spanish with a concentration in Applied Linguistics from New York University, and a B.A. in Art History and Spanish from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.