Lena Ishel Rodriguez (she/her/hers) is a PhD student in Arts of the Americas and an independent curator, painter and writer from San Diego, California. Her artwork was most recently featured in From The Margins at the Fishbowl Gallery.听 She made her solo curatorial debut with Creation Story at the Columbia City Gallery. She has also contributed to Cosmic Beings in Mesoamerican and Andean Art at the Seattle Art Museum, and Inside the Mask at the Hammer Museum. Her work explores the intersections of Indigenous and Latin American studies and challenges the erasure and marginalization of artists of color. She has worked as an educator, fundraiser, advocate, and curator for a variety of museums, art galleries, and non-profit organizations.听听
Lena holds an M.A. in Museology from the University of Washington, Seattle, a B.A. in Art History and Ancient Near East & Egyptology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and an Associates in Art History from Southwestern Community College.听听