Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month With Us!

Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu in Peru. Photo Courtesy of AdobeStock.

From art and history to public health and global partnership, Temple University Libraries invites the Temple community to engage with programs that highlight Latin American perspectives, creativity, and lived experience during Hispanic Heritage Month. 

This fall’s events create opportunities to learn from artists, scholars, and educators whose work connects culture, community, and social justice across borders. 

Peru in Temple, Temple in Peru 

El muro de la vergüenza — The Wall of Shame 

Wednesday, September 16, 2026, 6–7 PM 

1st Floor Event Space, Charles Library 

This presentation begins with a wound: the Muro de la Vergüenza, a wall in San Juan de Miraflores that divides Lima into two places—one gated and prosperous, the other marginalized. The program offers a powerful starting point for considering inequality, urban space, and the human impact of borders. 

In Search of an Aesthetic of My Own 

Tuesday, September 29, 2026, 2 PM  

1st Floor Event Space, Charles Library  

In this program, a Peruvian-American artist explores aesthetics, cultural survival, and inheritance through a visual practice rooted in personal and collective history. The event invites audiences to consider how art can preserve, question, and reshape cultural memory across generations. 

Kukuli Velarde pictured with one of her pieces, photo by John Carlano. Photo courtesy of Kukuli Velarde.

Bridges– Artist talk with Dilmar M. Gamero S. 

Wednesday October 7, 2026, 10 AM  

1st Floor Event Space, Charles Library  

Join Peru-born, U.S.-based lens-based artist and educator Dilmar M. Gamero S. for Bridges, an artist talk on his creative journey. Gamero will reflect on how his art practice, research, pedagogy, and life experiences connect people, cultures, and places through photography, moving image, and film. 

On View: Exhibitions 

Lightness and Movement: Artifacts from the Kaxinawá 

Visit Charles Library to view an exhibition of cultural objects created by the Kaxinawá people, an Indigenous community of the Amazon rainforest whose homeland extends across present-day Peru and Brazil. The Kaxinawá also refer to themselves as Huni Kuin, meaning “the Real People.” 

The artifacts on display are on loan from the Temple Anthropology Laboratory & Museum. Find the exhibition on the 4th Floor of Charles Library, outside the Quiet Reading Room, beginning September 15, 2026. 

A headdress consisting of black turkey feathers, blue and yellow macaw feathers, and white heron feathers. Bound together with colored weavings. Courtesy of the Temple Anthropology Laboratory and Museum.

Peruvian History and Culture Book Display 

Book Cover of Reports on the Discovery of Peru, Edited by Clements R. Markham.

Explore a selection of books highlighting Peru’s rich history, diverse cultural traditions, literature, art, and contemporary life. The display is located on the first floor of Charles Library, near the 13th Street entrance, from September 15 through October 15, 2026. 

Peruvian history and culture book display. 1st Floor of Charles Library next to the 13th Street entrance; September 15 – October 15, 2026. 

Celebrate, Learn, Connect 

Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to celebrate the histories, cultures, contributions, and diverse voices of Hispanic and Latino/a/x communities. Join Temple University Libraries and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese as well as other campus partners for opportunities to encounter new perspectives, connect with fellow learners, and participate in conversations that reach beyond campus and across borders.