Leslie Ureña is associate curator of global contemporary art at Mia. Since arriving at Mia in 2023, she’s organized numerous exhibitions, among them “María Berrío: Songlines” (2026, co-curated), “Take the Picture!” (2026), “Sopheap Pich: In the Presence of” (2025, co-curated), “Networks of Care” (2024), and “Another Look” (2023).
Before arriving at Mia, Ureña was curator of photographs at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, where she co-curated “Kinship” (2022–24), the 2022 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, and “IDENTIFY: Sonic Blossom” by Lee Mingwei (2018). She’s also worked in curatorial departments at the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Dallas Museum of Art, among others; led the international team of TKG+, Taipei, Taiwan; and written extensively on the history of photography and contemporary art. Ureña holds a BA in the history of art from Yale University and an MA and a PhD in art history from Northwestern University.