Gwen Unger

Gwen A. Unger is a PhD candidate in Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University in the City of New York. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis in 2013, focusing on cultural movements in Brazil. From 2014-2016 she held the position of Gallery Director at the Philip Slein Gallery in St.Louis. At Columbia, Gwen studies modern and contemporary Latin American art, earning her MA with a thesis on the work of Hélio Oiticica during his time in New York City and her MPhil in the fields of modern Latin American and Caribbean art, and Afro-Cuban culture. During her time at Columbia Gwen has participated in the MoMA Museum Research Consortium, a symposium held at the Casa de las Americas led by Professor Alex Alberro, and recently delivered a paper at LASA 2018 on the role of the Cuban artist in the global market. Her current research focuses on contemporary Cuban artists from the 1990’s, specifically considering questions of race, subjectivity and belonging for Afro-Cuban artists during the Special Period.