A wide shot of a ceramics studio, featuring students working with pottery wheels and other tools.
SAIC faculty member Deanna Ledezma.

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Deanna Ledezma

Lecturer

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Bio

Deanna Ledezma, Ph.D., (she/her) is a Lecturer in the Departments of Art History, Theory, and Criticism and Liberal Arts. She earned her Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Illinois Chicago. She is a Tejanx scholar, educator, and curator specializing in Latinx/e photography and contemporary art, with a research focus on diasporic identity formations, notions of family and kinship, placemaking, and LGBTQ+ histories. Her scholarship engages with critical archival studies, visual culture studies, and genres of life writing.

In addition to her work as an art historian, she is a nonfiction writer and creative practitioner who collaborates with artists on publications, exhibitions, installations, and events. Deanna Ledezma co-founded the Place as Practice Research Collective with Josh Rios (School of the Art Institute of Chicago), and Anthony Romero. 

Publications

Selected Publications: Ledezma, Deanna. “Archival Temporalities and Queer Kinships in the Photographs of Diana Solís.” In Feminist Visual Solidarities and Kinships, edited by Erina Duganne, Susan Richmond, and Genevieve Hyacinthe. Rutgers University Press (forthcoming, November 2026); Ledezma, Deanna. “Ongoing Contestations: Kathy Vargas’s My Alamo.” X as Intersection: Writing on Latinx Art, U.S. Latinx Art Forum, September 14, 2026.  https://uslaf.org/essay/ongoing-contestations-kathy-vargas-my-alamo/; Ledezma, Deanna. “Politics of Care/La política del cuidado.” In Sophie Rivera: Double Exposures, edited by Susanna Temkin, 214–231. Distributed by Aperture. Published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same title, El Museo del Barrio, 2026; Ledezma, Deanna. “Diasporic Practices of Placemaking and Home in Chicanx Photography.” In Chicano Camera Culture: A Photographic History, 1966 to 2026, edited by Elizabeth Ferrer, 135–154. Distributed by the University of Washington Press. Published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same title, Riverside Art Museum and the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture, 2026; Ledezma, Deanna. “Kindred Memories and Regional Resonances in the Family Albums of Carmen Lomas Garza.” In Carmen Lomas Garza: Picturing the Familiar, edited by Alana Hernandez. Distributed by the University of Texas Press. Published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same title, Arizona State University Art Museum, 2026; Ledezma, Deanna and Josh Rios. “Photographs from the Fields: The Digital Activism of the United Farm Workers.” In Reworking Labor, edited by Ellen Rothenberg and Daniel Eisenberg, 118–139. The Institute for Curatorial Research & Practice at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2023; Ledezma, Deanna. “Selecting Views of Las Trampas: Contact Sheets by Fred E. Mang Jr. and David Jones at the New Mexico State Records Center and Archives.” Photography & Culture 14, no. 1 (March 2021): 1–13; Ledezma, Deanna. “Regarding Family Photography in Contemporary Latinx Art.” Art Journal 79, no. 3 (Fall 2020): 80–89. 

Exhibitions

Selected Exhibitions: Collaborations

Not So Much in Words: Kinship Citations, exhibition by Deanna Ledezma, Josh Rios, and Anthony Romero (Place as Practice Research Collective), Black Family Visual Arts Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 6–April 26, 2026; The place where the creek goes underground, exhibition by Deanna Ledezma, Josh Rios, and Anthony Romero (Place as Practice Research Collective), curated by Meg Rotzel with Caitlin Julia Rubin, Johnson-Kulukundis Family Gallery, Harvard Radcliffe Institute, Cambridge, September 16–December 14, 2024; Ballad of the Uprooted, mixed-media installation by Deanna Ledezma, Josh Rios, and Anthony Romero, Re: Working Labor, curated by Daniel Eisenberg and Ellen Rothenberg, School of the Art Institute of Chicago Sullivan Galleries, September 20–November 27, 2019

Selected Exhibitions: Curatorial Work

Diana Solís: Restless Light/Diana Solís: Luz inquieta, organized on the forty anniversary of the National Museum of Mexican Art, solo exhibition curated by Deanna Ledezma, Chicago, opens February 19, 2027; Contigo, Diana Solís, group exhibition curated by Nicole Marroquin and Deanna Ledezma, Co-Prosperity, Chicago, August 5–September 30, 2023

Personal Statement

Her current book project, Archival Lineages: Kinships and Diasporas in Latinx Photography, examines how Latinx/es use photography to negotiate their cultural and diasporic identities, assert their presence amid the ongoing effects of settler colonialism, and commemorate kinship formations, including those that have been disregarded or censured for exceeding conventional notions of family.

New and forthcoming exhibition catalog essays include “Diasporic Practices of Placemaking and Home in Chicanx Photography” in Chicano Camera Culture: A Photographic History, 1966 to 2026 (University of Washington Press, 2026); “Kindred Memories and Regional Resonances in the Family Albums of Carmen Lomas Garza” in Carmen Lomas Garza: Picturing the Familiar (Arizona State University Art Museum, 2026); “Politics of Care” in Sophie Rivera: Double Exposures (Aperture, 2026); and, "Pat Garcia Jr." in Contact Sheet: The Light Work Annual 2026. Her essay “Archival Resurgences and Latina Legacies in the Photographs of Diana Solís” will be published in Feminist Visual Solidarities and Kinships (Rutgers University Press, 2026). Her previous publications have appeared in Art Journal, Photography & Culture, caa.reviews, Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture, Intervenxions, the book Reworking Labor, and the exhibition catalog Akito Tsuda: Pilsen Days.  

Working together, Deanna Ledezma, Josh Rios, and Anthony Romero are the founding members of the Place as Practice Research Collective. Born and raised in South Central Texas, each collective member holds familial ties and ancestral connections to this region and Northern Mexico. The artists refer to themselves as Tejanx, a shared term of identification with a regional specificity that encapsulates their bicultural positionalities. As a collective, their research-based practice encompasses photography, sculpture, installation, moving image, and creative writing. Their artworks and publications articulate the complexities of Tejanx, Mexican, and Mexican American identities while addressing the ongoing effects of Spanish colonialism, settler colonialism, and migration.

Their inaugural exhibition, The place where the creek goes underground, was held at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University from September 16 to December 14, 2024, and included an exhibition takeaway and booklet with essays written by the collective. Their exhibition Not So Much in Words: Kinship Citations was on view at the Black Family Visual Arts Center at Dartmouth College from January 6 to April 26,  2026. An exhibition publication with an introductory essay and a series of nonfiction vignettes authored by the collective was published in April 2026. 

Courses

Title Department Catalog Term

Description

This course builds on the lessons of ARTHI 1001 by discussing specific issues in modern and contemporary art and design. It focuses on examining objects and concepts, addressing theoretical and critical issues. It also explores the historical, intellectual, and socioeconomic changes reflected in the works of artists and designers, highlighting their relevance to contemporary practices. Museum visits and group exercises supervised by the instructor and the teaching assistants will contribute to the important hands-on experience of works of art.

Note: ARTHI 1001 is the recommended prerequisite for ARTHI 1002.

Class Number

1035

Credits

3

Description

Archives are more than boxes of historical documents studied by historians. As this course demonstrates, archives are also sites of creative practices, interventions, and collaborations. Focusing on archival practices in contemporary art, this course examines how artists make work with preexisting archives and produce new collections of their own. We will investigate how artists have activated archival collections, countered exclusions in archives, critiqued colonial archives, and developed archives with and for marginalized communities. The course will provide an overview of key terms and major themes in critical archival studies, such as memory, ephemera, critical fabulation.
Readings will include texts by the following scholars, curators, and archivists: Sarah Callahan, Tina Campt, Michelle Caswell, Maria Eugenia Cotera, Ann Cvetkovich, Okwui Enwezor, Saidiya Hartman, Carolyn Steedman, and Diana Taylor. Along with these writings, we will learn about the art practices and archives of LGBTQ+ and BIPOC artists: William Camargo, Guadalupe Rosales, Wendy Red Star, Irene Antonia Diane Reece, Diana Solís, Stephanie Syjuco, and Fred Wilson. In addition to the Flaxman Library Special Collections, we will visit archives held in Chicago institutions, such as the Newberry Library, the Gerber/Hart Library and Archives, and the Harold Washington Library Center. During these class trips, we will meet with archivists and librarians.
Coursework will include written reflections on assigned readings and field trips, a creative project based on an archival collection, and a final research paper and presentation on a self-selected topic.

Class Number

1100

Credits

3

Description

This course introduces students to theories and methodologies foundational to Latinx Studies as well as current trends and debates in the field. Through close readings of assigned texts and classroom discussions, students will study the diverse social, economic, political, and cultural histories of Latines and Latinxs in the United States. The course integrates close textual analysis with in-depth discussions, equipping students with critical tools to analyze the social construction of race and ethnicity, patterns of migration and diaspora, the impacts of colonialism, modes of resistance and activism, and the emergence of pan-ethnic identities. Texts and assignments will vary each year. Readings may include book chapters and articles by Gloria Anzaldua, Frances R. Aparicio, Lilia Fernandez, Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes, Albert Sergio Laguna, Claudia Milian, Nancy Raquel Mirabal, and Barbara Andrea Sostaita, among others. Students should anticipate completing in-class writing exercises and reading responses, two short papers, and a final research-based essay and presentation on a topic of their choosing. Students¿ final projects will be organized into a class publication, with each student receiving their own copy at the conclusion of the semester.

Class Number

1748

Credits

3

Description

This course examines the concept of kinship as a dynamic, constructed, and reimagined social practice that extends beyond traditional notions of family. While representations of the family frequently appear in art history and popular culture, our focus will be on how contemporary artists, scholars, and curators redefine the understanding and recognition of kinship. The course will begin with an introduction to key concepts in kinship studies, followed by thematic explorations that pair artists, artworks, and exhibitions with relevant theoretical and art historical texts. Central themes will encompass artistic lineages, cultural inheritances, queer and crip kinship, intergenerational memory work, the politics of care, and diasporic family histories.
Artists and collectives featured in this course include Amalia Mesa-Bains, Kelly Church, Jess T. Dugan, bell hooks, Carmen Lomas Garza, Sky Hopinka, Kira Dominguez Hultgren, Place as Practice Research Collective, Betye Saar and Alison Saar, Rose B. Simpson, Sins Invalid, Karina Aguilera Skvirsky, The Care Collective, The Family Camera Network, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Carrie Mae Weems, and Maggie Wong.
This online course prioritizes active participation and engagement through class discussions and writing exercises linked to the readings, dialogues, and virtual guest presentations. The creative assignment will require students to produce a family album utilizing a medium of their choice. To facilitate the development of the final essay, the course schedule will include an idea-generation workshop as well as allocated in-class writing time.

Class Number

1042

Credits

3

Description

This interdisciplinary course focuses on issues of identity and artistic production in modern and contemporary art from the nineteenth century to the present. Situated in the context of the United States, the class examines how individual and collective identities shape the production, categorization, and reception of art. While the terms ¿modern¿ and ¿contemporary¿ remain largely undisputed, categories of identification adopted by and placed upon artists are neither universally accepted nor applied. Even as more nuanced understandings of intersecting identities (including race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, nationality, and religion) develop, simplistic and reductive ideas concerning the correlation between identity and aesthetic persist. In our investigation, we will study how histories of migration, settler colonialism, activism, and the emergence of political identities intersect the art worlds and visual culture.

Class Number

1169

Credits

3