Direlia Lazo: The Cuban Running Latin America's Biggest Art Fair

As the contemporary art world turned its gaze to Mexico City during the first week of February, a Cuban woman was at the helm of the season’s most important event. Direlia Lazo, born in Havana in 1984, has just wrapped up a triumphant 22nd edition of Zona Maco, Latin America’s largest contemporary art fair.

From Havana to the International Art World

Direlia Lazo’s story with art began in the most Cuban way possible: Sunday family outings. Her father, a physicist-mathematician by profession but passionate about art, religiously took her to the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana every weekend.

“We always went on weekends in Cuba to the National Museum of Fine Arts—it was like a tradition. That’s where the curiosity came from,” Lazo recalls in recent interviews.

That curiosity led her to study Art History at the University of Havana, a highly competitive program that required passing multiple exams. But her true calling was curating, a discipline that at the time was barely touched on during a single semester of the academic program.

The Mentor Who Changed Everything

The turning point came when Lazo knocked on the door of Gerardo Mosquera, one of Cuba’s most influential curators and co-founder of the legendary Havana Biennale. Mosquera agreed to be her thesis advisor, and she graduated by doing something unusual: instead of a traditional research paper, she mounted an exhibition.

“I always felt that the curator’s role is to be like an interpreter between the artist and what gets communicated about their art,” Lazo explains about her curatorial philosophy.

The Leap to Miami and International Rise

After working at the Havana Biennale, Lazo made the international leap. She became director of Faena Art in Miami, one of the city’s most prestigious contemporary art spaces, where she worked with artists from around the world and developed projects that blurred the boundaries between art, architecture, and immersive experience.

In 2023, Zélika García, founder of Zona Maco, named her the fair’s artistic director, making her one of the most influential figures in contemporary Latin American art.

Zona Maco 2026: Numbers That Speak

The edition that just closed (February 4-8, 2026) left impressive numbers:

• 82,000+ visitors in five days
• 200+ galleries participating
• 27 countries represented
• 70+ museum groups from around the world

“This edition marks a point of institutional maturity with more than two decades of growth, adaptation to market changes, and strengthening of curatorial proposals,” Lazo told Mexican press.

A Cuban Vision of Global Art

What sets Direlia Lazo apart is her ability to integrate Latin American narratives into global conversations without losing authenticity. For her, Latin American art has something special:

“There’s a lot of tradition—there’s always a story to tell, and there’s a lot of emotion involved. Sometimes it’s much more than what you see; the surface ends up encapsulating only a very minimal perspective, and the connections with history and the land are deeply rooted.”

Advice from a Cuban Curator

For those looking to start collecting art, Lazo has clear advice: don’t wait.

“The first piece you buy is super important because you’ll always remember it, but you shouldn’t hold back. If you see something that resonates with you, breaking the ice is the most important thing—just take that step and buy your first piece.”

She remembers her own first acquisition: a piece by Mexican artist Manuela García, a work made of thread and copper elbows that requires four people to mount, each representing a pillar in the collector’s life.

The Legacy Continues

From Havana to Miami, from the Biennale to Zona Maco, Direlia Lazo represents a new generation of Cuban professionals who are redefining the international cultural landscape. Her story is a reminder that a passion for art cultivated in Cuba’s museums can flourish on the world’s biggest stages.

As she puts it: “Being a curator is a career that’s one hundred percent tied to passion, because the processes of developing exhibition concepts are very long, and in the end, visibility isn’t always guaranteed. You have to start from a personal consensus that you’re sure this is what you’re passionate about, and you go for it regardless of the results.”

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Zona Maco 2027 already has a date: the first week of February next year. And Direlia Lazo, the Havana native who conquered the art world, will remain at the helm.