2020–21 Marilynn Thoma pre-doctoral fellow Katherine Mills (PhD Candidate in the History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University) will receive $45,000 to work on her dissertation Unlocking the Cloister through Prayer: Ritual Lives of Nuns in Santa Catalina and Santa Clara, Cuzco, which explores the relationship between architecture, devotional art, rituals, and female power present in the two most important 17th century convents in Cuzco, Peru: Santa Catalina and Santa Clara. Mills’ research will take her to Cuzco to personally examine the visual arts of each convent.
Of the award, Mills states: “It would be impossible to write this dissertation without spending the full year in Cuzco, working closely with the nuns of both convents. I know that the relationships forged with both them and the greater academic community in Cuzco will lay the foundation for a long and productive career in the field and I look forward to the adventure.”