Personal bits
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#SweetSouthWestAbout Me
Catherine J. Trujillo is a highly accomplished specialist in community engagement, cultural stewardship, and amplifying underrepresented voices within museums, archives, and libraries. Currently on sabbatical, she is focused on hands-on research and development in the digital humanities, creating innovative frameworks to make art and history radically accessible to everyone, everywhere. Rooted in a commitment to social justice and informed by a Xicanisma and BIPoC feminist lens, her work builds on a career that included serving as Deputy Director for the New Mexico History Museum and as Curator and Head of the Creative Works Department at California Polytechnic State University. Her expertise in the stewardship of cultural histories, storytelling, publishing, and design is shaped by her lived experience and inspired by her family's storied roots in southern New Mexico, including ties to Rancho de Chiz, Monticello, and Truth or Consequences. She strives to enact radical change and build lasting contributions to our cultural life. |
Things that used to be...
Catherine Trujillo lived, worked and mothered in San Luis Obispo, CA.
She curated anything from cowboys to pixels at Cal Poly.
She co-curated and founded Pecha Kucha Night SLO.
She volunteers a lot in the community.
She shared things & subjects & work with people close to her heart.
She likes to have fun.
Secrets to Lives Well Lived are on her mind.
She curated anything from cowboys to pixels at Cal Poly.
She co-curated and founded Pecha Kucha Night SLO.
She volunteers a lot in the community.
She shared things & subjects & work with people close to her heart.
She likes to have fun.
Secrets to Lives Well Lived are on her mind.
 Photo: Jen Young
Originally from East Los Angeles, curator Catherine Trujillo was guided into the arts by her maternal grandmother who raised her and who celebrated their ancestors and cultural heritage from New Mexico. She uses a Xicanisma and BIPoC feminist lens as a way to enact radical change. She does this work with collaborators and colleagues to name, question and intervene in racism within the arts, academia, and communities. Her lived-experiences and background in community engagement have shaped her academic career within museums, archives, and libraries growing her expertise in the stewardship of cultural histories, storytelling, publishing and design. Her work focuses on creating long-standing contributions to the cultural life of the community, with a commitment for the preservation and dissemination of underrepresented voices in history and art.
Catherine retired from California Polytechnic State University in 2022 as Curator Emerita. She oversaw California Polytechnic State University’s Robert E. Kennedy Library Creative Works department, which supports alternative approaches to scholarship with a commitment to amplify underrepresented topics and voices. Along with Digital Publishing Research Fellow, jaime ding, they did this by shaping, sharing, and fueling stories with collaborators in art, exhibits, and digital publishing. And do so on the unceded lands of yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini, the Northern Chumash tribe, upon which we are grateful guests. Programs included: The Faculty Exhibit Program, University Art Collection, Community Galleries, and Poly Publishing, which aims to enhance access to Cal Poly scholarship through a digitally immersive, interactive system that focuses on collaboration, accessible approaches, and recognition of individuals’ places within structural systems. This structural solution brings inclusive practices, equity, and justice to the forefront of scholarly publishing at Cal Poly — centering historically underrepresented identities, perspectives, and creativity. Memorable Projects: Central Coast Snapshots Founded in 2020, Central Coast Snapshots gathers stories that center perspectives of those historically marginalized on California’s Central Coast, stories that take shape in any number of forms (interviews, photo essays, poetry, videos, journals, documentaries, art, portraits) during this critical, COVID-19 moment. June Fist 2020: A community-driven record of protests and solidarity for Black lives—sharing the testimonies of those mobilized on the Central Coast during the summer uprisings for Black lives. Find us online: http://centralcoastsnapshots.online The ChismeArte Digital Experience: a collaborative effort with Robert E. Kennedy Library and Cal Poly faculty, staff, and students. The project shares the Kennedy Library 2008 onsite exhibition “ChismeArte ¡Y Que! Expanding Los Angeles’ Chicano Aesthetic” as well as scholarly access to the magazine archival editions, and an anthology of voices, remembrances, and interpretations inspired by ChismeArte. THE CHISMEARTE DIGITAL EXPERIENCE WAS IN COLLABORATION WITH: Victor Valle, professor emeritus, Department of Ethnic Studies, Cal Poly SLO. In partnership with UCSB California Ethnic & Multicultural Archives (CEMA), UC Santa Barbara Library. Special thanks to M. Angel Diaz, Curator, CEMA Catherine J. Trujillo, Curator Jessica Eng, Digital Publishing Student Fellow, BUS ‘22 Based on the foundation and pedagogy of jaime ding, Poly Publishing Digital Publishing Research Fellow, 2019-2022. Find it here: https://polypublishing.calpoly.edu/chismearte Additionally: In her spare time Catherine Trujillo served as the associate producer and archival researcher for the documentary film Lives Well Lived and a sometime contributor to KCET’s Artbound — transmedia journalism exploring Southern California's arts and culture. Additionally, she co-founded an organization to support the undocumented student community in San Luis Obispo and Northern Santa Barbara Counties. |