Chloë Sayer is an independent scholar, author and curator, specialising in the art and culture of Latin America. A fluent Spanish-speaker, she has spent many years researching ancient traditions and contemporary craft skills. In 2016 the Mexican Government awarded her the prestigious Ohtli medal to thank her for her long-standing commitment to Mexican culture.
She has made collections and carried out fieldwork in Mexico and Belize for the British Museum. In 1991 she co-curated the exhibition The Skeleton at the Feast: The Mexican Day of the Dead at the Museum of Mankind in London (1991 – 1993). She has also worked extensively in Canada with Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), where she is a Research Associate in the Department of World Cultures. She recently co-curated an exhibition for the ROM: ¡Viva México! Clothing and Culture (2015 – 2016) and wrote the accompanying book.
Her other books include Mexican Textiles (British Museum Press, 1990), The Arts and Crafts of Mexico (Thames & Hudson, 1990), Focus on Aztecs and Incas (Watts Books, 1995), The Incas (Wayland, 1998), and Fiesta: Days of the Dead and Other Mexican Festivals (British Museum Press, 2009). She has worked on a number of television documentaries about Mexico and Peru for the BBC and Channel 4, and regularly leads cultural tours to Mexico.
Chloë Sayer lives in London, and has been a NADFAS-accredited lecturer since 2003. She toured Australia as the guest of ADFAS in 2005, 2010 and 2012, and is delighted to have been invited back in 2018 and 2019.
