Info
Miguel Limón (b. Chicago, Illinois) is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and cultural worker whose practice spans printmaking, photography, installation, and socially engaged pedagogy. Informed by a lineage of Mexican migrant labor and shaped by their background in museum studies and education, Limón explores the ways images, objects, and materials function as carriers of memory and spirit. Their work approaches the print as both artifact and animate form—an object that not only documents but intervenes, activating personal and collective histories.
Miguel has taught and led programs at the University of Chicago, SAIC @ Homan Square, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and more. They hold a BS in Education from DePaul University and an MA in Museum and Exhibition Studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Their work has been exhibited at Mana Contemporary, the Design Museum of Chicago, the John David Mooney Foundation, and others.
Their work has received grant awards from 3Arts/Ignite, the Aperture Foundation, and the Puffin Foundation. Limon was named as a “2025 Artist to Watch” by Comfort Station, and 2024 Visual Arts Fellowship Honorable Mention by Luminarts Foundation. They have been featured in Vogue Italia, V Magazine, Aperture, Sixty Inches from Center, and Local Wolves.
Statement of Praxis
My praxis is rooted in the belief that learning is a generative, liberatory, and co-constructed process that lives between the body, the spirit, the object, and the world. As both artist and educator, I resist the binary between knowing and not-knowing, teacher and student, archive and experience. I draw from Jorge Lucero’s artist as teacher, teacher as artist framework to embrace the pedagogical act as an aesthetic one - teaching as material, curriculum as composition, and meaning-making as a relational and time-based practice.
I am guided by a phenomenological understanding that knowledge is never neutral or abstract; it is lived, embodied, and situated. Objects, like people, hold memory and spirit. Their meanings are not static but emerge in relationship, through encounter. As an educator and cultural worker, I ask: how do we approach the object not as something to consume or master, but to witness, to hold, to be transformed by? My pedagogy stages these questions through participatory engagement, critical reflection, and a respect for the opacity and resistance of what we do not fully know.
Drawing on Vygotsky’s theory of proximal development, I see learning as emergent in the space between individuals: a social act made possible through guidance, risk, and collaboration. At the same time, I center Paulo Freire’s conscientization: that to educate is to reveal the conditions of our world and empower one another to transform them. Knowledge is not extracted, it is built. bell hooks’ theory of radical love teaches me that this process must be grounded in care, accountability, and deep respect for each learner’s complexity and agency.
I am guided by a phenomenological understanding that knowledge is never neutral or abstract; it is lived, embodied, and situated. Objects, like people, hold memory and spirit. Their meanings are not static but emerge in relationship, through encounter. As an educator and cultural worker, I ask: how do we approach the object not as something to consume or master, but to witness, to hold, to be transformed by? My pedagogy stages these questions through participatory engagement, critical reflection, and a respect for the opacity and resistance of what we do not fully know.
Drawing on Vygotsky’s theory of proximal development, I see learning as emergent in the space between individuals: a social act made possible through guidance, risk, and collaboration. At the same time, I center Paulo Freire’s conscientization: that to educate is to reveal the conditions of our world and empower one another to transform them. Knowledge is not extracted, it is built. bell hooks’ theory of radical love teaches me that this process must be grounded in care, accountability, and deep respect for each learner’s complexity and agency.
My work is particularly attuned to what Anzaldúa calls the borderlands — the transitory, shifting spaces between categories, disciplines, and identities. To me, these spaces are pedagogical: they are where conflict, contradiction, and hybridity produce new ways of being. In institutional settings, I work to hold open these spaces, challenging the hierarchies of schooling and the extractive logics of museum education. I align with Ivan Illich’s call to deschool society in the redistributions of knowledge production and learning, beyond the credentialed expert, the curated label, or the closed archive. Institutions of meaning (like academia or musums) are simply organized communities of people, I argue that the “lay man” can participate in these actions of meaning-making, too.
Education, like memory, is not a linear path but an adapting, a return, a rupture, a revealing. My role is to guide others in that movement, to build with them a pedagogy that is grounded in justice, spirit, and the refusal to forget.
Education, like memory, is not a linear path but an adapting, a return, a rupture, a revealing. My role is to guide others in that movement, to build with them a pedagogy that is grounded in justice, spirit, and the refusal to forget.
Artist Statement
My practice explores the intersection of image-making , social practice, and historical memory to reclaim narratives of migration, labor, and cultural resistance. Grounded in the traditions of printmaking and photography, my work activates archives to challenge dominant historical narratives.
Raised on Chicago’s Southeast Side, I am deeply invested in the ways industrial histories shape cultural identity and environmental justice. Using rust-based inks, carbon prints, and fabric installations, I reimagine the material residue of industry as a carrier for storytelling. At its core, my work is a practice of radical archiving - activating memory to ensure that histories of displacement, labor, and resistance remain visible. I aim to foster connections between past and present struggles, building bridges between art, activism, and the lived experiences of working-class communities.
Raised on Chicago’s Southeast Side, I am deeply invested in the ways industrial histories shape cultural identity and environmental justice. Using rust-based inks, carbon prints, and fabric installations, I reimagine the material residue of industry as a carrier for storytelling. At its core, my work is a practice of radical archiving - activating memory to ensure that histories of displacement, labor, and resistance remain visible. I aim to foster connections between past and present struggles, building bridges between art, activism, and the lived experiences of working-class communities.
Beyond the studio, I explore knowledge production in informal cultural spaces like museums, libraries, and community centers. Inspired by bell hooks and Paulo Freire, I view art as a site of social transformation, using creative intervention as a democratic medium for collaboration, mentorship, and accessibility. Through participatory workshops, zines, and site-specific activations, I create spaces for collective reflection and action. Bridging historical research, material experimentation, and community engagement, my social practice work dissolves the boundaries between art and lived experience.
Whether through formal works or interpersonal exchange, I wish to honor to past while imagining a more just future.
Whether through formal works or interpersonal exchange, I wish to honor to past while imagining a more just future.
Curriculum Vitae
Artist CV
Education
University of Illinois at Chicago — MA, Museum and Exhibition Studies + Education Concentration, 2021–2024
DePaul University — BS, Education (Middle Grades Social Science & Science) + Museum Studies Minor, 2018–2022
DePaul University — BS, Education (Middle Grades Social Science & Science) + Museum Studies Minor, 2018–2022
Solo/Two-Person Exhibitions
Untitled — Junior High Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 2017 (Solo)
Group Exhibitions
Riso Chicago — Hallagan's x Lot’sa, Chicago, IL, 2025
Up & Up — Chicago Athletic Association, Chicago, IL, 2024
CPSLives Class of 2024 — Design Museum of Chicago, 2024
Luminarts Visual Arts Finalists Exhibition — John David Mooney Foundation, Chicago, IL, 2024
Photo Flux — Getty Center, Los Angeles, CA, 2020
Up & Up — Chicago Athletic Association, Chicago, IL, 2024
CPSLives Class of 2024 — Design Museum of Chicago, 2024
Luminarts Visual Arts Finalists Exhibition — John David Mooney Foundation, Chicago, IL, 2024
Photo Flux — Getty Center, Los Angeles, CA, 2020
Curatorial Projects
Chicago Sukkah Design Festival 2023 — Lawndale Pop-Up Spot, Chicago, IL, 2023
Residencies/Fellowships
Chicago Artists Coalition — Artist in Residence, 2025–2027
CPS Lives — Artist in Residence, 2023–2024, 2024–2025
CPS Lives — Artist in Residence, 2023–2024, 2024–2025
Grants/Awards
Designing a Better Chicago — Honorable Mention, Ink & Impact/Matiz Press, 2025
3Arts Ignite Fund — Ink & Impact, 2024
Puffin Foundation — Foundry Echoes, 2024
West Town Chamber of Commerce — Pop-Up Program, Matiz Press, 2024
Luminarts Foundation — Visual Arts Fellowship Honorable Mention, 2024
Aperture Foundation / Google — Creator Labs Photo Fund, 2021
UIC Graduate College Fellowship, 2021
DePaul University — William Randolph Hearst Foundation Endowed Scholarship, 2021–2022
DePaul University — Presidential Scholarship, 2018–2022
3Arts Ignite Fund — Ink & Impact, 2024
Puffin Foundation — Foundry Echoes, 2024
West Town Chamber of Commerce — Pop-Up Program, Matiz Press, 2024
Luminarts Foundation — Visual Arts Fellowship Honorable Mention, 2024
Aperture Foundation / Google — Creator Labs Photo Fund, 2021
UIC Graduate College Fellowship, 2021
DePaul University — William Randolph Hearst Foundation Endowed Scholarship, 2021–2022
DePaul University — Presidential Scholarship, 2018–2022
Writing/Publishing
Fwd: Museums 2023 – Redacted, Bridge Books / Stepsister Press, 2023
Fwd: Museums 2024 – Power/Potential, Bridge Books / Stepsister Press, 2024
Fwd: Museums 2024 – Power/Potential, Bridge Books / Stepsister Press, 2024
Press
Come As You Art: Miguel Limón — Sixty Inches From Center, 2022
Announcing the Winning Artists of the Creator Labs Photo Fund — Aperture, 2021
Aperture and Google Have Announced the Winners of Their New Photography Fund — Vogue, 2021
Creator Labs Photo Fund Announced Its Twenty Finalists — V Magazine, 2021
Looking While People Look — Patrimonio Para Jóvenes, 2021
Local Wolves Issue 50: Miguel Limón — Local Wolves Magazine, 2017
Announcing the Winning Artists of the Creator Labs Photo Fund — Aperture, 2021
Aperture and Google Have Announced the Winners of Their New Photography Fund — Vogue, 2021
Creator Labs Photo Fund Announced Its Twenty Finalists — V Magazine, 2021
Looking While People Look — Patrimonio Para Jóvenes, 2021
Local Wolves Issue 50: Miguel Limón — Local Wolves Magazine, 2017
Conferences/Preferences
Youth and School Communities at the MCA — BELE Network Convening, 2023
Mentoring Latinx Women — McNair Scholars Symposium, Baylor University, UIC, DePaul, 2021
Constructing ROVs... — NSTA National Conference, Chicago, IL, 2015
Mentoring Latinx Women — McNair Scholars Symposium, Baylor University, UIC, DePaul, 2021
Constructing ROVs... — NSTA National Conference, Chicago, IL, 2015
Teaching/Workshops/Lectures
Spudnik Press — Teaching Artist: Risograph Printing, 2025–Present
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago — Lead Instructor, Teen Creative Agency, 2022–Present
University of Illinois at Chicago — Journal Coordinator, Fwd: Museums, 2022–2024
School of the Art Institute of Chicago — Lead Designer, Lawndale Civic Design Program, 2023
Garfield Park Conservatory — Hilos Tintos: Natural Cochineal Dye Workshop, 2023
University of Chicago — Interim Education Manager, Arts + Public Life, 2021
DePaul University — Peer Mentor, McNair Scholars Program, 2022
DePaul University — Assistant Program Coordinator, International Research Experience (IRE), 2022
Marwen Foundation & Buddy Chicago — Teaching Artist, META Printmaking & Entrepreneurship, 2021
Museum of Science and Industry — Coordination Assistant, Teen Programming, 2019
Museum of Science and Industry — Community Initiatives Intern, Farrell Fellows, 2016–2019
Walter Payton College Prep — Seminar Consultant, Gender & Sexual Wellness, 2018–2019
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago — Lead Instructor, Teen Creative Agency, 2022–Present
University of Illinois at Chicago — Journal Coordinator, Fwd: Museums, 2022–2024
School of the Art Institute of Chicago — Lead Designer, Lawndale Civic Design Program, 2023
Garfield Park Conservatory — Hilos Tintos: Natural Cochineal Dye Workshop, 2023
University of Chicago — Interim Education Manager, Arts + Public Life, 2021
DePaul University — Peer Mentor, McNair Scholars Program, 2022
DePaul University — Assistant Program Coordinator, International Research Experience (IRE), 2022
Marwen Foundation & Buddy Chicago — Teaching Artist, META Printmaking & Entrepreneurship, 2021
Museum of Science and Industry — Coordination Assistant, Teen Programming, 2019
Museum of Science and Industry — Community Initiatives Intern, Farrell Fellows, 2016–2019
Walter Payton College Prep — Seminar Consultant, Gender & Sexual Wellness, 2018–2019