Meet the 2020-21 Dean’s Student Council: Lili Flores Aguilar
This series of web posts profiles the 2020-2021 UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture’s Dean’s Student Council.
Lili Flores Aguilar (who alternates between she/her and they/them pronouns) is a third-year doctoral student in the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance. During her undergraduate studies at UCLA, Flores majored in Anthropology and worked on research projects with the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology as well as collaborated on a computer science project. Their work addresses the ethics of museum curatorial practices and our relationship to digital technologies and spans digital media including 3D design, sound, and animation.
When Lili Flores Aguilar started their graduate student career at UCLA, they thought their work would focus mainly on augmented and virtual reality experiences in museum contexts. However, through engagement with her home department, World Arts and Cultures/Dance, she found herself delving into the ethics of curatorial practices and has turned to exploring new ways of engaging with digital media.
As an undergraduate, Flores (who is also a first-generation college student) transferred from Santa Monica College to UCLA to study anthropology. Now, as a third-year PhD student, Flores has developed a practice centered on experiencing digital media, mapping memories, and the performance of personal identity. “All of this has led me to consider how knowledge and information travel through movement of our bodies, which is an expression of our ontologies – our ways of being,” Flores says.
An important source of inspiration for Flores is their community and personal and cultural identity. “I have found that art has been a liberating practice of self-expression that is layered with the many cultural repertoires that are a part of who I am due to my ancestral lineage and my growing up in Los Angeles,” they say.
“It is critical to offer my perspective when it comes to advocating for changes in curricula and overall cultural shifts that support inclusivity and accessibility to the arts.”
Lili Flores Aguilar
Flores’ heritage and identity as a Mexican-American first-generation graduate student also influenced her choice to become an advocate as a part of the Dean’s Student Council. “It is critical to offer my perspective when it comes to advocating for changes in curricula and overall cultural shifts that support inclusivity and accessibility to the arts,” she says.
In addition to their advocacy work on the Dean’s Student Council, Flores is also part of the Anti-Racism, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Commission and its Curriculum Subcommittee. In addition, they helped develop ABC Abolition Curriculum, part of the UCLA Prison Education Program.
A particularly important topic to Flores is recognizing the historical owners of the land on which UCLA and Los Angeles sit. This also translates into her creative work, which often incorporates local histories and cultural practices.
"Inside the Mask," a group exhibition at the Hammer Museum, featured a collaborative multi-channel video installation with 3D animations by Flores of masks from the Fowler Collection. Collaborating with World Arts and Cultures/Dance graduate students KJ Wade, Ryan Rockmore, ethnomusicology graduate student Juan Francisco, and environmental studies graduate student Chase Nieser was a way to practice a transdisciplinary approach to engaging with how indigenous people interact with locally embedded artifacts.
“I have found that by collaborating with my council peers across departments, we are able to see how there are overlaps in our concerns but also how there are specific needs for each department.”
Lili Flores Aguilar
As a member of the Dean’s Student Council, Flores has found the Council to be a vital conduit for student advocacy. “I have found that by collaborating with my council peers across departments, we are able to see how there are overlaps in our concerns but also how there are specific needs for each department,” she says. In the future, Flores hopes that their work has paved the path for inclusive and critical approaches to how arts knowledge is produced.
“I hope that my work with the council leads to more critically informed ways of incorporating polyvalent aesthetics that are relevant to students that promote values of social justice and being respectful guests and stewards here on Tongva territory,” Flores says.
Story by: Ruby Dennis
HEADER IMAGE: Provided by Lili Flores Aguilar.
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