From September 28 through October 9, 2026, the Center for Latin American Studies will host Salvadoran artist Herbert de Paz on campus. De Paz is a pan-Latin American artist who lives and works between El Salvador and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). His work centers on origin and memory, focused on indigenous and Afro-diasporic territories of Central America and Brazil. 

De Paz's visit will begin with an exhibit of his works and reception at the Intercultural Gallery at Hagerty Hall, which will allow faculty, students, staff, and members of the community to learn about the artist and his work. In addition to the reception, De Paz will present on the research he conducted for his master's studies on pre-Hispanic mural painting, as well as visit undergraduate classes and local K-12 institutions. The artist will also collaborate with local artist Cat Ramos. 

CLAS’s collaboration with De Paz started in 2024, when his work “Gaspar Yanga, El Primer Gran Libertador de las Américas” (below) was used as part of the “Forging Freedom: Afro-Latin American Independence Movements” symposium. As CLAS Assistant Director Leila Vieira explains, “We received a lot of positive reactions when we used De Paz’s depiction of Yanga in our event, so I wanted build upon that and bring him to campus so that his work can continue to invite conversations about colonialism and memory.”

De Paz is extremely excited about this visit and the opportunity to continue working with our campus community and beyond. The artist states that, "Being able to share my interests and knowledge with others will be a very significant experience in my training as an artist and researcher. I'm deeply interested in the interdisciplinary study of themes relating to other non-hegemonic narratives about the history we learn at school. Themes related to the knowledge and technologies of indigenous peoples of the Americas and the encounter with peoples of Africa in the territory are the basis of my research." 

This opportunity is made possible by the Visiting Artist Program at Ohio State, which invites nationally and internationally acclaimed figures in the fields of literature or the visual and performing arts to spend time at the university, working with students and faculty, both contributing to and partaking in the campus’s interdisciplinary environment. 

Event dates during his visit will be published in our events calendar as they become available. If you’d like to be in the loop about our programming, please subscribe to the CLAS newsletter.