Please join The Latinx Project Graduate Student Working Group (GSWG) on February 20, 2026 for our second annual symposium at New York University. Inspired by a set of topics salient to the inquiries of Latinx studies, Black studies, performance studies, and queer of color critique, The Latinx Project GSWG Symposium will engage with scholarship that speaks to the world-making activity that happens in and with the dark.
We are the People Who Leap in the Dark convenes twelve graduate students from across the country to present on narco-politics, border and state-sanctioned violence, tattoo and surveillance culture, Caribbean portraiture, activism in California’s Inland Empire, Afro-Latinx DJing, and more. Together, these presentations will lead us in new directions through discussions of visual art, literature, performance, activism, resistance, and alternative modes of survival and being. Our symposium will take place on February 20, 2026 from 10AM to 5PM.
Symposium Schedule: February 20, 2026 | 20 Cooper Square, 3rd Floor
10:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Breakfast (Open to all)
10:30 AM - 10:40 AM
Welcome/Opening Remarks: Daisy Quiñones and Orlando Ochoa, Jr.
10:45 AM - 11:00 AM
Keynote: Angel Lartigue, curatorial and artistic researcher
11:10 AM - 12:10 PM
Panel I: Dark Disorder Media(ted)
Alexa De La Fuente (Yale University), “Esto no lo puede tener nadie”: Disrupting Mediated Fears of Barbaric Figures within Narco-Satanist Narratives
Hernan Sanchez Garcia (Tufts University), “Soy Darks”: Disrupting Borders Through Subculture, Media, and Performance Across the Americas
Ana Herrera (New York University), Miedo a la obscuridad: Darkness in Mariana Enriquez
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM
Panel II: Cuts, Scars & the Minoritarian Body
Brenda Vega (The University of Texas at Dallas), The Scarring Body: Phenomenologies of Pain and Healing in Chicano/x Latino/x Performance Art
David Salinas (New York University), From Stigma to Strength: Rethinking Latinx Tattoo Culture Under State Surveillance
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Lunch (Open to all)
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Panel III: Making Light, Making Shadows
Edward Gia (The University of Texas at Austin), Living in the Land of What Matters
Sarah Diaz (New York University), Obscuring the Body: The Embodiment of Resistance in Caribbean Portraiture
Soledad Aguilar-Colón (New York University), “Killing Depression”: Silhouettes of Black Continuum(s) Through Cenen Moreno’s Work
3:10 PM - 3:55 PM
Panel IV: Art & Intimacy Amidst Destierro
Inés Anleu Gil (University of Texas at Austin), “Entre el cráter y el cuerpo”: Unearthing desire in Mena Guerrero’s practice
Celeste Navas (University of California, Davis), “Roses at a Riot Squad”: Grassroots Art Spaces amidst Displacement in San Bernardino
4:00 PM - 4:45 PM
Panel V: Improvising Otherwise
Odalis Garcia Gorra (University of Texas at Austin), “More Than Just a DJ”: Pleasure, Power and Sacredness in Afro-Latinx DJing
Giovanna Querido (Columbia University), Spiraling Blues: Black Musical Practices from the Mississippi Delta to Rio de Janeiro’s Pequena África
4:45 PM - 5:00 PM
Closing Remarks
About GSWG
The Graduate Student Working Group at The Latinx Project fosters a collaborative environment for networking, professional development, and community. GSWG is open to graduate students at NYU, area institutions, and independent scholars looking for community. Please join us for our upcoming events and subscribe to our mailing list to receive updates relevant to graduate students.