Photo by Kathryn Killackey.
Representing the Unknown
November 22, 10 am–5 pm
BGC Lecture Hall, 38 West 86th Street
This symposium—organized in celebration of Image Encounters: Moche Murals and Archaeo Art History by Lisa Trever, winner of the 2022 Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Book Prize—considers the interpretive and pedagogical challenges of representing the unknown (or, that which can not or should not be known). This full-day symposium includes a series of interactive presentations by scientific and archaeological illustrator Kathryn Killackey; Ulla Holmquist, director of Museo Larco in Lima, Peru; and artist Kukuli Velarde, each offering distinct critical approaches to this question. Presentations will be followed by an open forum. Join us for a day of interdisciplinary research, food, and conversation.
The Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Book Prize celebrates the best book on the decorative arts, design history, or material culture of the Americas. It rewards scholarly excellence and commitment to cross-disciplinary conversation.
RSVP HERE
This event is open to BGC students, faculty, staff, and invited guests.
Schedule
10 am: Welcome
10:20 am: Introduction by Lisa Trever (Columbia University)
11 am: Kathryn Killackey (Killackey Illustrations)
11:45 am: Coffee Break
12:15 pm: Ulla Holmquist (Museo Larco)
1 pm: Lunch
2 pm: Kukuli Velarde (artist)
2:45 pm: Coffee Break
3:15 pm: Conversation
5 pm: Reception
10:20 am: Introduction by Lisa Trever (Columbia University)
11 am: Kathryn Killackey (Killackey Illustrations)
11:45 am: Coffee Break
12:15 pm: Ulla Holmquist (Museo Larco)
1 pm: Lunch
2 pm: Kukuli Velarde (artist)
2:45 pm: Coffee Break
3:15 pm: Conversation
5 pm: Reception
Speaker Bios
Lisa Trever is the Lisa and Bernard Selz Associate Professor of Pre-Columbian Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University in the City of New York. Previously, she served on the faculty of history of art at the University of California, Berkeley. She holds a PhD in history of art and architecture from Harvard University and degrees in art history and archaeological studies from the University of Maryland and Yale University. Trever is the author of Image Encounters: Moche Murals and Archaeo Art History (Texas, 2022) and The Archaeology of Mural Painting at Pañamarca, Peru (Dumbarton Oaks, 2017), and coeditor of the volume El arte antes de la historia: Para una historia del arte andino antiguo (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2020). Since 2018 she has co-led a collaborative archaeological, art historical, and conservation project at the ancient Moche center of Pañamarca in north-coastal Peru.
Kathryn Killackey is a freelance science illustrator and artist. She has a BA in anthropology from University of California, Berkeley, an MA in field and analytical techniques in archaeology from University College London, and a certificate in science illustration from California State University, Monterey Bay. She specializes in archaeological illustration and creating engaging scenes of past peoples. She was illustration team leader from 2007 to 2020 for the Çatalhöyük Research Project and was recently awarded an NEH-Mellon Foundation Fellowship in Digital Publishing for a visualization project on the Late Formative occupations at Tiwanaku, Bolivia.
Ulla Holmquist Pachas is the director of the Museo Larco in Lima, Peru. She is an archaeologist from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and received her MA in museum studies from New York University. In 2019, she became minister of culture of Peru and director of the Inca Garcilaso Cultural Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Peru. Previously, she was the director of the Museo Central of the Central Bank of Peru (MUCEN, 2015–18). From 2008 to 2015 she was chief curator and director of academic & cultural affairs of the Museo Larco in Lima. She has also been deputy director of the Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú (MNAAHP, 2001–02), and curator of pre-Columbian art at the Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI, 2002–03).
She has curated national and international Peruvian pre-Columbian art and archaeology exhibitions, like the recent exhibition Machu Picchu and the Golden Empires of Peru (Boca Raton, Paris, Milan 2021–22). She is a professor in the archaeology program and in the master’s program of art history and curatorship at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. She is currently a PhD candidate in the PEA Program (Programa de Estudios Andinos) in archaeology, at the Universidad Católica del Perú.
Kukuli Velarde is a Peruvian artist based in the United States since 1987. She has received awards and grants such as the Virginia Groot First Prize (2023), the Guggenheim Fellowship (2015), the United States Knight Arts + Tech Fellowship (2009), the Pew Fellowship in Visual Arts (2003), and the Anonymous Was a Woman grant (2000), among others. In 2013 her project CORPUS received the grand prize at the Gyeonggi Ceramics Biennial in South Korea. Velarde held tenure as faculty at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2022. Her exhibition credits include: CORPUS touring exhibition at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Winston-Salem (formerly SECCA); the Halsey Institute in South Carolina; and the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, among other venues in 2022 and 2023; KUKULI VELARDE: THE COMPLICIT EYE at Taller Puertorriqueño in Philadelphia (2018–19); KUKULI VELARDE at the American Museum of Ceramic Art in Los Angeles (2017); PLUNDER ME, BABY at the Yenggi Museum of Ceramics’ Biennial of Taipei (2014); CORPUS (work in progress) at the Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennial (2013); as well as KUKULI VELARDE: PLUNDER ME, BABY at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Kansas (2013); PATRIMONIO at Barry Friedman Gallery, New York (2010); and PLUNDER ME, BABY at Garth Clark Gallery, New York (2007). She is married to Doug Herren, sculptor, and they have a daughter named Vida. They live in Philadelphia.
Kathryn Killackey is a freelance science illustrator and artist. She has a BA in anthropology from University of California, Berkeley, an MA in field and analytical techniques in archaeology from University College London, and a certificate in science illustration from California State University, Monterey Bay. She specializes in archaeological illustration and creating engaging scenes of past peoples. She was illustration team leader from 2007 to 2020 for the Çatalhöyük Research Project and was recently awarded an NEH-Mellon Foundation Fellowship in Digital Publishing for a visualization project on the Late Formative occupations at Tiwanaku, Bolivia.
Ulla Holmquist Pachas is the director of the Museo Larco in Lima, Peru. She is an archaeologist from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and received her MA in museum studies from New York University. In 2019, she became minister of culture of Peru and director of the Inca Garcilaso Cultural Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Peru. Previously, she was the director of the Museo Central of the Central Bank of Peru (MUCEN, 2015–18). From 2008 to 2015 she was chief curator and director of academic & cultural affairs of the Museo Larco in Lima. She has also been deputy director of the Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú (MNAAHP, 2001–02), and curator of pre-Columbian art at the Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI, 2002–03).
She has curated national and international Peruvian pre-Columbian art and archaeology exhibitions, like the recent exhibition Machu Picchu and the Golden Empires of Peru (Boca Raton, Paris, Milan 2021–22). She is a professor in the archaeology program and in the master’s program of art history and curatorship at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. She is currently a PhD candidate in the PEA Program (Programa de Estudios Andinos) in archaeology, at the Universidad Católica del Perú.
Kukuli Velarde is a Peruvian artist based in the United States since 1987. She has received awards and grants such as the Virginia Groot First Prize (2023), the Guggenheim Fellowship (2015), the United States Knight Arts + Tech Fellowship (2009), the Pew Fellowship in Visual Arts (2003), and the Anonymous Was a Woman grant (2000), among others. In 2013 her project CORPUS received the grand prize at the Gyeonggi Ceramics Biennial in South Korea. Velarde held tenure as faculty at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2022. Her exhibition credits include: CORPUS touring exhibition at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Winston-Salem (formerly SECCA); the Halsey Institute in South Carolina; and the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, among other venues in 2022 and 2023; KUKULI VELARDE: THE COMPLICIT EYE at Taller Puertorriqueño in Philadelphia (2018–19); KUKULI VELARDE at the American Museum of Ceramic Art in Los Angeles (2017); PLUNDER ME, BABY at the Yenggi Museum of Ceramics’ Biennial of Taipei (2014); CORPUS (work in progress) at the Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennial (2013); as well as KUKULI VELARDE: PLUNDER ME, BABY at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Kansas (2013); PATRIMONIO at Barry Friedman Gallery, New York (2010); and PLUNDER ME, BABY at Garth Clark Gallery, New York (2007). She is married to Doug Herren, sculptor, and they have a daughter named Vida. They live in Philadelphia.
