Mario Josué Martinez Rodriguez
PhD Student, Contemporary African American and African Diasporic Art, Art History and Archaeology
Larry and Brenda Thompson Endowed Collections Fellow, David C. Driskell Center for the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora
Education
M.A., Art History, Kent State University
Mario Josué Martinez Rodriguez is a Ph.D. student and President’s Fellow, studying contemporary art under the supervision of Dr. Saggese. His research examines the ways African American artists navigate the politics of space and place, and interrogate history and the rhetorical architectures of nation.
Mario earned his Master’s degree in Art History from Kent State University, where he wrote his thesis about how contemporary African American artists are unearthing local, site-specific histories grounded in the landscape of the United States. He served as the Director’s Fellow at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 2023 and Havner Curatorial Intern at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in 2024.