Aurelis M. Lugo Barriera is a Puerto Rican visual artist, educator, and art accessibility advocate. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Art Education with a concentration in Visual Arts and a Master’s degree in Digital Marketing and Media Content Creation. Lugo has extensive experience teaching visual arts in both Puerto Rico and the United States and currently serves as a middle school visual arts teacher and college-level art instructor in Wake County, North Carolina.

Her artistic practice centers on the representation of Black Puerto Rican women, exploring historical memory, identity, and the enduring marks of colonialism, resilience, and resistance within Caribbean society. Through painting, mixed media, and large-scale murals, Lugo elevates narratives that have been historically marginalized, positioning art as a tool for visibility, healing, and critical social dialogue.

Lugo has exhibited her work in galleries and museums in Puerto Rico and internationally, including London, the Dominican Republic, and Japan. In addition to her studio practice, she has created public murals at both national and international levels, expanding access to art beyond traditional institutional spaces and into the public realm.

Deeply committed to equity in arts education, Lugo is a leading advocate for art accessibility. She designs and implements adapted art curricula for students with disabilities and has spearheaded inclusive initiatives such as We Can Too, an exhibition that showcased artworks created by exceptionally and intellectually disabled students in self-contained classrooms. This project was developed to bridge gaps in visual arts opportunities and affirm the creative agency of students with severe disabilities.

Lugo is a 2025–2026 Diamante Artist-in-Residence, a member of the 2025 School of the Arts Leaders cohort, an NEA Global Fellow (2026), and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Educational Leadership at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where her work continues.