Paulina Ascencio Fuentes is a researcher and curator, currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Anthropology at New York University (NYU). She has a background in Philosophy and Social Sciences and holds a MA in Curatorial Studies from CCS, Bard College, New York. Between 2021-2022 she was a Hevey-Filling Fellow in the Department of Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Since 2023 she collaborates with ENRICH (Equity for Indigenous Research and Innovation Coordinating Hub) and Local Contexts, global initiatives that support Indigenous communities with tools that attribute cultural authority of heritage and data.
Her research outlines transdisciplinary modes of knowledge production and transmission, analyzes cultural exchanges between Mexico and the United States, and approaches museums, archives, and collections as contact zones. Among her recent projects are “Paricutín: An Archive like Lapilli” (ongoing research) and the exhibitions Eje Neovolcánico. Aproximaciones Artísticas al Paisaje Igneo (Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, 2023), Ing. Jorge Matute Remus. La técnica al servicio de la ciudad (Museo Cabañas, Guadalajara, 2022); and Uxmal-on-Hudson: Migrant Mutants and Fake Ruins (Hessel Museum of Art, New York, 2021).
She is currently a fellow of Consejo Nacional de Humanidades Ciencias y Tecnologías (CONAHCYT México) and between 2019-2021 she was awarded the Jumex Foundation Grant to study abroad. In 2021 she was awarded the Ramapo Curatorial Prize to extend her MA thesis research with the curatorial project Notes on Anarchaeology, presented in Fall 2023. She is 1/4 of the curatorial collective The Department of Love. She lives and works between Guadalajara and New York City.
Paulina Ascencio Fuentes
Explore
