Race is sometimes treated as a biological fact. It is actually a modern invention. But for this concept to gain power, its logic had to be spread – and made visible. Art historian Ilona Katzew tells the story of how Spanish colonists of modern-day Mexico developed theories of blood purity and used the casta paintings – featuring family groups with differing skin pigmentations set in domestic scenes – to represent these theories as reality. She also shares the strange challenges of curating these paintings in the present, when the paintings’ insidious ideologies have been debunked, but when mixed-race viewers also appreciate images that testify to their presence in the past.<br/><br/>Researcher, writer, and episode producer: Christopher Nygren, Associate Professor, History of Art and Architecture, University of Pittsburgh<br/><br/>Featured Scholar: Ilona Katzew, Curator and Head of Latin American Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art<br/><br/>Special thanks: Elise Lonich Ryan, Nayeli Riano, Jennifer Josten<br/><br/>For transcript, teaching aids, and other resources, click here.<br/>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="http://megaphone.fm/adchoices" class="linkified" target="_blank">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a> <br/><br/>Get full access to Zachary Davis at <a href="https://www.zacharystevendavis.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_4">www.zacharystevendavis.com/subscribe</a>