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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 \u2013 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 \u2013 featuring family groups with differing skin pigmentations set in domestic scenes \u2013 to represent these theories as reality. She also shares the strange challenges of curating these paintings in the present, when the paintings\u2019 insidious ideologies have been debunked, but when mixed-race viewers also appreciate images that testify to their presence in the past.\n\nResearcher, writer, and episode producer: Christopher Nygren, Associate Professor, History of Art and Architecture, University of Pittsburgh\n\nFeatured Scholar: Ilona Katzew, Curator and Head of Latin American Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art\n\nSpecial thanks: Elise Lonich Ryan, Nayeli Riano, Jennifer Josten\n\nFor transcript, teaching aids, and other resources, click here.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices