Mariano Villalba is a historian trained in cultural history and religious studies, with a focus on the intersections of politics and spirituality in Latin America. He holds a joint PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Lausanne and in History of Religions and Religious Anthropology from the École Pratique des Hautes Études. His dissertation examined the figure of Arnold Krumm-Heller (1876–1949), a German occultist active during the Mexican Revolution, and analyzed the role of modern esoteric currents in shaping narratives of Mexican national identity.

Villalba is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Spirituality and the Arts at the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School (2024–2026). His project, Occult Movements and Mexican Mural Art, investigates the influence of Theosophy and related esoteric currents on Mexican visual art, with particular attention to the work of María Izquierdo, Cordelia Urueta, and Sofía Bassi. His research has involved collaborations with the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice, the Warburg Institute in London, and the University of Amsterdam’s Centre for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents.

His forthcoming monograph, Occult Mexico: The Imagination of Mexican Antiquity, from the Colonial Era to the Revolution, will be published by Oxford University Press. He is also co-editing a volume on Esotericism and Visual Arts in Latin America. In addition to authoring the texts and curating this exhibition, Villalba has worked on archival and curatorial projects exploring the relationship between art and spirituality and has lectured internationally.