Sonya Wohletz receives Fulbright-Hays award

Sonya Wohletz, a Ph.D. candidate in Latin American Studies and Art History at Tulane University, is a 2015-16 recipient of the Fulbright-Hays award to perform dissertation research in Quito, Ecuador.

Sonya received her undergraduate degree at the University of Oregon where she studied Spanish and art history. Having grown up in Northern New Mexico, Sonya was always fascinated by colonial art and architecture and was furthermore inspired to pursue research on the subject after living in Argentina and Chile during her undergraduate studies.

A student of Dr. Elizabeth Boone, Sonya's research centers on seventeenth-century devotional art from the city of Quito in modern-day Ecuador. Her dissertation, entitled "Lilies and Ash: Crisis and Artistic Production in Late Seventeenth-Century Quito," explores how miraculous images functioned during times of upheaval, drought, plague, and economic decline in the Andes. 

Her research in Quito will consist of extensive archival work in the city's various repositories. She will also analyze myriad paintings and sculptures housed within the city's historic convents, churches, and houses.