Curriculum Vitae

Michel Otayek

EDUCATION

  • Ph.D. Spanish and Portuguese (New York University, 2019).

  • M.A. Art History (Hunter College, CUNY, 2012).

  • Certificate in Appraisal Studies in Fine and Decorative Arts (New York University, 2008).

  • Attorney at Law (Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, Caracas, 1999).

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Photography and Print Culture

  • Gender and Exile Studies

  • Visual Anthropology

  • Spanish Civil War Visual Culture

  • Indigenous and Postcolonial Studies

  • Modern and Contemporary Latin American Art

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

CURATORIAL PROJECTS (SELECTION)

PUBLICATIONS

Monographs

Academic Theses

  • “Photography, Mobility and Collaboration: Kati Horna in Mexico and Grete Stern in Argentina.” Ph.D. dissertation (New York University, 2019). Approved with distinction.

  • “Testimony of an Instant: The Spanish Anarchist Revolution Through the Lens of Kati Horna (1936-1939).” MA Thesis (Hunter College, 2011). Awarded the Sommerville Art Prize.

Edited Books

Articles, Book Chapters, Catalog Essays, Encyclopedia Entries

  • “Between the Archive and the Artworld: Writing Gendered Histories of Ibero-American Photography,” in Journal of Women’s History 36, no. 4 (2024): 70-90.

  • “Greed, Violence, and Desire: Alfredo Boulton's Portrait of a Venezuelan Fisherman,” in Dialogues: Modernist Bodies, eds. Michelle Greet and Lynda Klich, special issue of Journal of Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture (2024) 6(1): 111-115.

  • “Oficios de la página impresa: Manuela Ballester y la revista Pasionaria,” in Manuela Ballester: Pintar frente a todo, ed. Carmen Gaitán Salinas. Valencia: Universitat de Valencia (2024): 76-85.

  • “The Camera as Compass: Kati Horna’s Photographic Exiles,” in Jewish Latin American Artists: Perspectives from the Global South, ed. Laura Fattal. Leyden: Brill Publishers (in press, forthcoming 2025).

  • “Kati Horna: Fotografía y experiencia de exilio,” in Salirse del camino: Artistas del exilio republicano español, eds. Alejandro Coello Hernández y Carmen Gaitán Salinas. Granada: Editorial Comares (in press, forthcoming 2025).

  • “Women's Rightful Place: Images, Magazines, and Mobilization During the Spanish Civil War,” in The Edinburg University Press Companion on Spanish Civil War Art and Visual Culture, eds. Eugenia Afinoguénova, Silvina Gesser and Robert Lubar. Edinburg: Edinburg University Press (in press, forthcoming 2026).

  • “Beyond the Apparent: Notes on Kati Horna and Surrealism,” in El Pluriverso del surrealismo en América Latina, eds. Andrea Gremels and Susanne Klengel. Madrid: Iberoamericana Vervuert (in press, forthcoming 2026).

  • “Between Science and Popular Culture: Barbara Brändli’s Photographs of the Venezuelan Amazonia,” in  A Foreign Eye: Photography, Women and Global; Encounters in the 20th Century, eds. Jordan Troeller and Hyewon Yoon, special issue of History of Photography (in review).

  • “Keepsakes of the Revolution: Transnational Networks and the Production and Distribution of Anarchist Propaganda During the Spanish Civil War,” in Writing Revolution: Hispanic Anarchism in the United States, 1868-2015, eds. Montse Feu and Christopher Castaneda. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2019: 227-244.

  • “Rómulo Gallegos, Canaima, and the Photobook that Never Was,” in Vistas 2: First Annual Symposium on Latin American art—Realisms: Politics, Art, and Visual Culture in the Americas, ed. Sean Nesselrode Moncada. New York: Institute of Fine Arts (2020): 63-73.

  • "Fotografía y excepcionalidad: Barbara Brändli, Thea Segall y el sur venezolano," in Las otras modernidades de Venezuela, ed. Juan Pablo Lupi, special issue of Studia Iberica et Americana 5 (2019): 101-121.

  • New article (“Kati Horna”) and updated articles (“Caracas,” “Graciela Iturbide,” “Luis Brito,” “Martin Chambi,” “Paolo Gasparini,” and “Tina Modotti”) in Grove Encyclopedia of Latin American Art & Architecture, ed. Tom Cummins. New York: Oxford University Press (2019).

  • “Del reportaje periodístico a la rebelión contra el arte: las vidas múltiples de “El iluminado” de Kati Horna,” in Lámpara de mil bujías: fotografía y arte en América Latina desde 1839, eds. Elena Rosauro and Juanita Solano. Barcelona: Editorial Foc (2018): 390-429.

  • “Contando a Kati Horna: apuntes breves sobre el oficio de historiador,” in Velar la imagen, eds. Lourdes Dávila et al, special issue of Esferas 7 (2017): 149-155.

  • “Loss and Renewal: The Politics and Poetics of Kati Horna’s Photo Stories,” in Told and Untold: The Photo Stories of Kati Horna in the Illustrated Press, eds. Christina de León, Michel Otayek, and Gabriela Rangel, exhibition catalog. New York and Mexico City: Americas Society and Archivo Privado de Foto y Gráfica Kati and José Horna S.C. (2017): 20-39.

  • “Berenice Abbott: Changing New York,” and “Walker Evans: Many Are Called,” in New York in Photobooks, ed. Horacio Fernández, exhibition catalog. Granada, Spain and Mexico City: Centro José Guerrero and Editorial RM (2016): 40-47 and 104-109.

  • "Catalogue" and "Timeline," in Power and Piety: Spanish American Colonial Art, ed. Jorge F. Rivas, exhibition catalog. Alexandria and New York: Art Services International and Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (2015): 54-167 and 170-179.

CONFERENCES, LECTURES, SYMPOSIA (SELECTION)

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

  • Adjunct Instructor, Modern Art in Latin America (ARTH-247). Hunter College (New York, USA), Fall 2018.

  • Adjunct Instructor, Critical Approaches to Textual and Cultural Analysis (SPAN-UA 200). New York University (New York, USA), Spring 2017.

  • Adjunct Instructor, Intensive Intermediate Spanish (SPAN-UA 20). New York University (New York, USA). Summer 2015.

  • Adjunct Instructor, Spanish for Beginners II (SPAN-UA 2). New York University (New York, USA), Spring 2015.

  • Adjunct Instructor, Spanish for Beginners I (SPAN-UA 1). New York University (New York, USA), Fall 2014.

OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

  • Appraisals Researcher, Victor Wiener Associates (New York, USA), 2013 –2015.

  • Business Consultant, Alarz Inc. (New York, USA), 2011-2013.

  • Senior Sales Manager, LAN Airlines (Miami and New York, USA), 2005-2010.

  • Special Events Coordinator, New World Symphony (Miami, USA), 2004-2005.

  • Regional Sales Manager, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (Miami, USA), 2002-2004.

  • Sales Executive, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (Caracas, Venezuela), 1999-2000.

LANGUAGES

  • Spanish (native), English (C2), German (C1), Portuguese (reading)