Erika Hirugami, MA, MAAB. MPhil. 

First-generation transnational Japanese Mexican immigrant, formerly undocumented of Otomí and P’urhépecha ancestry. 

Hirugami holds an MA in Art Business from the Sotheby’s Institute of Art, in conjunction with the Drucker School of Management and Getty Leadership Institute at Claremont Graduate University. She also holds an MA, MPhil and BAs from UCLA in Art History, Chicano Studies, and Mexican Studies. Hirugami is currently a teaching fellow and doctoral candidate at UCLA, where she epistemologically braids the aesthetics of undocumentedness to challenge immigration policy and politics. 

Hirugami is the founder and CEO of CuratorLove, Co-founder of the UNDOC+Collective, the ED at AHSC, a Professor at SMC, LAMC, and CGU’s CBMArts and MFA Departments. She is an Arts for LA Fellow, NALAC NLI Fellow, DAICOR Fellow, and CCI Catalyst. As a Getty and Kress Foundation Fellow, she has developed curatorial statements at museums across México and the United States while being a Public Art Curator for the Department of Cultural Affairs in the City of Los Angeles and leading various commercial galleries. She has curated exhibitions for galleries and museums across the globe, and her written work has been published internationally. More on Erika Hirugami.