Cristian Vargas Paillahueque is a Mapuche art Historian, curator, and researcher currently affiliated with the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino in Santiago, Chile. His lines of research address Indigenous art, both traditional and contemporary, as well as the study and problematization of art collections. Vargas Paillahueque is curator of the exhibition Miradas sobre el Wallmapu. MNBA Collection (2023–24), Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes,Santiago, Chile, which investigates the representation of Mapuche culture in the history of Chilean art, and the reverse gaze implied in the work of Santos Chávez and subsequent generations. He has previously worked as an external researcher at the Museo Histórico Nacional and Museo de Arte Popular Americano Tomás Lago of the Universidad de Chile. As curator, he has collaborated with various Mapuche artists, and curated exhibitions at the Centro Cultural de España in Santiago and Galería de Arte de la Universidad Católica in Temuco, Chile.

As of March 2024