Module Directory

During this module, we will look closely at select artworks that offer insights into key moments in art making in Latin America.

The module will study artworks in dialogue with the region's socio-political processes, addressing important historical events such as colonisation, the Mexican Revolution, modernisation, and political conflict. Within this interdisciplinary approach, we will focus mainly on modern and contemporary works of art to examine them in relation to issues such as nature and the landscape, cultural hybridity, modernity, trauma, and identity.

The aims of this module are:

• To explore key themes and issues related to Latin America through its artistic heritage.


• To encourage interdisciplinary approaches to studying art.


• To study key artistic movements in modern Latin America.


• To familiarise students with the Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA).


• To contextualise artworks in broader political, social and cultural contexts.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Critically describe, analyse and interpret works of art and/or architecture featured in the module, considering their production and circulation.


2. Engage in independent research by sourcing for and using primary and secondary texts.


3. Participate thoughtfully in class discussions and engage constructively with feedback.


4. Write in a sophisticated and informed manner on the relationship between works of art and both primary and secondary sources, and to form an argument relating to various aspects of the topic.

The artistic heritage of Latin America is both as vast as its expansive geography and as rich as its complex history.

Interwoven with the social, political, and cultural realities that have shaped the region, art from Latin America is a diverse and fascinating tapestry of pre-Columbian artefacts and Colonial art; botanical surveys and post-independence paintings; iconographies of social revolution; avant-garde aesthetics; and contemporary engagements with violence and injustice. Artists from Latin America have long made significant contributions to innovating aesthetic forms by reaching beyond geographical boundaries to pioneer and engage with transnational movements, from Geometric Abstraction and Conceptualism, through to the digital interfaces at the frontiers of technological development.

The module will begin with an introduction to Latin America, then examine core topics over the following weeks, combining readings of key critical and analytical texts with detailed discussions of specific artworks.

It will engage with artworks at the Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA), a major research and teaching collection at the University of Essex and a unique university and national resource. Representing 350 artists from 19 countries, ESCALA includes more than 750 artworks mostly produced from the 1960s to the present.

ESCALA often organises and shares information about events related to art from Latin America at the University's Colchester Campus or at other venues through its website blog.

We advise signing up to ESCALA's social media and checking the website frequently for information about ESCALA events and opportunities.

ESCALA also has its own archive and reference library related to its artworks. You can access this by contacting ESCALA Assistant Director, Sebastian Bustamante-Brauning.

This module will be delivered via:

• One 2-hour lecture and seminar per week.

There will also be a reading week.