Isabel Ruiz Cano (2026) studies the role visual culture plays in forming and representing narratives around national identity under authoritarianism. Focusing specifically on cultural production in El Salvador between 1889 and 1979, she examines the relationship between modernism, modernity, and the legacies of colonialism. More broadly, her research aims to be in conversation with the influence of globalization upon the vernacular. Isabel is also interested in printmaking practices and alternative art circuits as sites of political resistance.
Isabel received her BA in the History of Art with a concentration in Museums from Smith College in 2021, where she was a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Research Fellow. She graduated with an MA in the History of Art and Architecture from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 2023. Isabel worked at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art from 2022 to 2026, most recently as Associate Curator. She previously interned at The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. (2019) and worked as an independent translator for contemporary art criticism in Mexico. Since 2024, Isabel helps co-organize the Northampton Print and Book Fair, a celebration of artists' multiples and independent artistic networks in Western Massachusetts and New England.