Dr. Michael LaRosa, associate professor of history and 2019 winner of Rhodes’ Clarence Day Award for Outstanding Research, has produced a significant body of scholarship on Latin American history and culture as well as U.S.-Latin American relations. His latest book is Immigration in the Visual Art of Nicario Jiménez Quispe.
The illustrated full-color book captures the current immigration debate through socio-political images by Peruvian-born artist Nicario Jiménez Quispe. The artist is known for his retablos that are ornate boxes with figurines in the interior that tell a story. The subject matter can be religious, historical, personal, or political.
LaRosa wrote the text for Immigration in the Visual Art of Nicario Jiménez Quispe with Carol Damian of Florida International University in Miami and Steve Stein of the University of Miami, Coral Gables.
Marina Pacini, chief curator of the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, writes: “This volume celebrates the art form by focusing on Jiménez’s immigration retablos; from the harrowing scenes along the Mexico-U.S. border to an emphasis on the accomplishments of immigrants once settled in the United States.”
Immigration in the Visual Art of Nicario Jiménez Quispe is available through Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.