Public History and Curatorial Practice / Research-Creation
Imagining and shaping public temporalities through memory, care, and collaboration.
About Me
Exhibitions as Processes
My Curatorial Practice
I am a public historian and cultural projects consultant. I design, coordinate, and evaluate research-based projects for museums, universities, foundations, and organisations. My work sits at the intersection of memory, migration, visual/material culture, and social justice, translating archives and collections into public programmes: exh
I am a public historian and cultural projects consultant. I design, coordinate, and evaluate research-based projects for museums, universities, foundations, and organisations. My work sits at the intersection of memory, migration, visual/material culture, and social justice, translating archives and collections into public programmes: exhibitions, public engagement, workshops, training, and digital/editorial content. I bring strong methodology, writing, and coordination across interdisciplinary teams (curatorial, education, communications, production), with a focus on planning and delivery—clear objectives, timelines, partnerships, and indicators for reach and impact.
My Curatorial Practice
Exhibitions as Processes
My Curatorial Practice
I work with cultural institutions, museums, organisations, and communities in the development of sensitive, situated, and critical narratives. My approach is grounded in collaborative processes, active listening, and the creation of experiences that invite people to imagine other ways of relating to objects, histories, and territories, through intersectional approaches and critical temporalities.
Exhibitions as Processes
Exhibitions as Processes
Exhibitions as Processes
I have designed and developed exhibitions that engage with publics and their contexts, integrating historical research, artistic practice, and intersectional approaches. I understand exhibitions as living processes in which objects activate questions, emotions, and desires for transformation. I am particularly interested in developing int
I have designed and developed exhibitions that engage with publics and their contexts, integrating historical research, artistic practice, and intersectional approaches. I understand exhibitions as living processes in which objects activate questions, emotions, and desires for transformation. I am particularly interested in developing intergenerational educational mediation processes that foster encounter, dialogue, and the collective construction of meaning.
Museum and Heritage Consulting
Academic Research and Publications
Museum and Heritage Consulting
I work closely with curatorial teams and cultural managers to review exhibition scripts, collections, and public narratives, with the aim of developing plural, inclusive, and ethically responsible narratives. I support processes of conceptual renewal and critical re-readings of heritage.
Teaching
Academic Research and Publications
Museum and Heritage Consulting
I have worked as a university lecturer for several years, and I also design and facilitate specialised workshops in curating, museums, and public history, as well as research-creation approaches focused on generating new, critical, and situated narratives.
My teaching practice is grounded in learning through practice, conversation, and sit
I have worked as a university lecturer for several years, and I also design and facilitate specialised workshops in curating, museums, and public history, as well as research-creation approaches focused on generating new, critical, and situated narratives.
My teaching practice is grounded in learning through practice, conversation, and situated experience, and explores temporalities and emotions as key dimensions of memory, historical processes, and contemporary curatorial work. I work with universities, museums, archives, cultural institutions, and community groups, adapting content and methodologies to each context, with an emphasis on collaborative, participatory, and care-centred practices.
Academic Research and Publications
Academic Research and Publications
Academic Research and Publications
I have been an academic researcher specialising in cultural history for over twenty years. I have published books, journal articles, and book chapters with international publishers such as Taylor & Francis–Routledge, De Gruyter, and Iberoamericana Vervuert, as well as with university presses including Universidad del Rosario, Universidad
I have been an academic researcher specialising in cultural history for over twenty years. I have published books, journal articles, and book chapters with international publishers such as Taylor & Francis–Routledge, De Gruyter, and Iberoamericana Vervuert, as well as with university presses including Universidad del Rosario, Universidad de los Andes, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, and Universidad Externado de Colombia, alongside publications in indexed academic journals.
My work operates at the intersection of collecting practices, visuality, and material culture, and is articulated from a public history perspective, critically examining the relationships between museums, archives, memory, and power within Latin American and transregional contexts.
Selected material from my curatorial projects
Espíritu de Red: Intellectuals, Museums, and Collections in Ecuador, 1850–1930
Centro Cultural Metropolitano, Municipality of Quito (2017)
This exhibition examined the networks of intellectuals, museums, and collecting practices that shaped cultural and national imaginaries in Ecuador between 1850 and 1930. The project was documented through a feature report by Index: Contemporary Art Conversations, an indexed cultural journal.
🔗 Exhibition content:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wNfMU6ocpU
As a postdoctoral researcher at The University of Manchester, I participated in the curatorial design of the online exhibition Comics and Race in Latin America, developed by the University of Manchester and launched in January 2024. The project explores the relationships between comics, race, and visual culture in Latin America from a critical and interdisciplinary perspective.
🔗 Exhibition link:
https://www.digitalexhibitions.manchester.ac.uk/s/corala-es/page/introduccion
My most recent exhibition as curator is Archivo Alexander von Humboldt: Gesto Pacífico, featuring the work of artist Fabiano Kueva. The exhibition is presented at the Museo de América, Madrid, Spain, and runs from October 2025 to March 2026. The project explores archival practices, transoceanic connections, and critical re-readings of Alexander von Humboldt’s legacy from a contemporary artistic and curatorial perspective.
🔗 Exhibition link:
https://www.cultura.gob.es/museodeamerica/en/exposiciones/exposiciones-temporales/2025-archivo-von-humboldt.html
Publications
Here you can access my publications in PDF format, as well as the link to my academic ORCID profile.
https://manchester.academia.edu/MaríaElenaBedoyaHidalgo
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9421-9438
Forthcoming Publications – 2026
Public History, Gender, and Power in Latin American Museums Women Curators and Cultural Leaders
María Elena Bedoya and Jimena Perry
Public History, Gender, and Power in Latin American Museums brings together pioneering voices of women curators, museum professionals, and community leaders who are transforming the cultural landscape of Latin America.
Explore the projects I have been involved in
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