Rose Salseda specializes in the visual art of U.S. Latinxs and African Americans. Her research interests include the politics of race in art and art history, visualizations of civil unrest in the United States, and the visual language of minimalism among other topics. 

Currently, Salseda is working on her first book manuscript, which foregrounds the 1992 Los Angeles Riots as a response to the injustices of state violence through the close reading of visual art made by two generations of artists. In addition, Salseda is a co-founder of the U.S. Latinx Art Forum (USLAF), a professional organization that champions artists and art professionals engaged in research, studio practice, pedagogy, and writing. As the associate director of USLAF, she develops initiatives to ensure equity for the field of Latinx art within academic and art institutions. She is also a core organizer of at land’s edge, a pedagogical and public programs platform based in Los Angeles that nurtures the voices of cultural producers who are committed to social justice.

Salseda's research has been supported by numerous institutions, including the Ford Foundation; the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens; and the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin among others.

See: Joy Leighton and Natalie Jabbar, "New faculty draw on divese subjects and backgrounds to open eyes, challenge students," Stanford News,February 28, 2019.

2019-2020 Course Offerings:

AH191; AFRICAAM 191B African American Art (Autumn)

This course surveys artworks made by African Americans in the United States and abroad. Students will explore major art movements, such as the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts Movement, and will study the impact of political movements on artists and their work, including the Black Liberation Movement and #BlackLivesMatter. In addition, students will consider how artists have contended with issues of race, gender, and sexuality and will examine transnational artist networks in Latin America and Europe among other places.

AH 194 U.S. Latinx Art (Winter)

This course surveys artworks made by Latina/o/x artists who live and work in the United States, including Chicanos, Nuyoricans, and others of Latin American and Caribbean descent. Students will study the diversity that comprises the U.S. Latinx demographic while considering artists' relationships to issues of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. They will also explore national debates, such as immigration and national security, that affect artists and their work. Special attention will be paid to cross-cultural and cross-racial exchanges between artists.

AH 291/491; AFRICAAM 291/491 Riot!: Visualizing Civil Unrest in the 20th and 21st Centuries (Spring)

This seminar explores the visual legacy of civil unrest in the United States. Focusing on the 1965 Watts Rebellion, the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, and the 2014 Ferguson Uprising, students will closely examine photographs, television broadcasts, newspapers, magazines, and film and video representations of unrest. In addition, students will visually analyze the works of artists who have responded to the instances of police brutality and/or challenged the systemic racism, xenophobia, and anti-black violence leading to and surrounding these events.