December 6 @ 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm
Delve into the world of nail art with Full Set Project! Full Set Project explores the social and cultural impacts of the nail industry through a study of the artistry, entrepreneurship, and working conditions of nail techs while amplifying their voices.
Join us for a special screening of Nail Tech: Portrait of an Artist (2025) followed by a discussion with filmmakers Dr. Jillian Hernandez, Dr. Elena Guzman, and Dr. Aracely García-González; and internationally renowned, Miami Florida-based nail artist Kro Vargas.
Nail Tech: Portrait of an Artist (2025) explores the life and cultural impact of Miami Florida-based nail artist Kro Vargas, whose trend-setting designs have graced the pages of Vogue and the fingertips of major musical artists like Ivy Queen and Ice Spice. The documentary highlights how nail art is a meaningful form of cultural expression that shapes larger developments in visual art, fashion, and popular culture. The film also explores the friendships and salons that have shaped Vargas’s career, like Optima Lite and Spring with Friends. Telling the story of nail techs is telling a history of style, culture, and women’s entrepreneurship in Miami.
Doors open at 1:00 pm.
Theater seating is first-come, first-served. Please plan to arrive early to ensure preferred seating.
Free with Museum Admission
RegisterFeatured Speakers:
Kro Vargas
Film Protagonist
Kro Vargas is an internationally renowned, Miami Florida-based nail artist. Her trend-setting designs have graced the fingertips of major musical artists like Ivy Queen, Rico Nasty, Rosalía, and Ice Spice. Vargas has placed Miami nail art on the map through her bold multi-dimensional and intricate styles. Her work draws influences from fashion, contemporary art, hip hop, Miami aesthetics, and Japanese design. Vargas’s work has been featured in publications such as Vogue, COMPLEX, and the recently published book Fresh Sets: Contemporary Nail Art from Around the World. She sees clients at Spring with Friends salon and will be an artist in residence at HistoryMiami Museum in 2026.
Jillian Hernandez, Ph.D.
Film Director
Jillian Hernandez, Ph.D., is a curator and scholar of contemporary visual art, popular culture, and style. Her book Aesthetics of Excess: The Art and Politics of Black and Latina Embodiment was published by Duke University Press and she has recently contributed to the exhibition catalogue for The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century and the anthology Documenting the Nameplate: Jewelry, Culture, and Identity. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at the University of Florida and the founder of Full Set Project, a collective that studies the cultural impact of nail culture.
Elena Guzman, Ph.D.
Film Co-Director
Elena Guzman is an Afro-Boricua documentary filmmaker, educator, and anthropologist raised in the Bronx with deep roots in the LES. She received her Ph.D. from Cornell University and is now an Assistant Professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies and Anthropology at Indiana University Bloomington. She is currently writing her book manuscript tentatively titled, Chimera Geographies: Spiritual Borderlands of the Afro-Caribbean, which focuses on the way Black women and non-binary people throughout the African diaspora use ritual performance in African diaspora religions to forge geographies that counter landscapes of oppression.
Aracely García-González, Ph.D.
Film Creative and Research Consultant
Aracely García-González received her Ph.D. in Chicana and Chicano Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is an Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies at Merced College. Her research focuses on the connections between histories of colonialism, global capitalism, gender, and economic vulnerabilities in marginalized communities. Her current project outlines how Latina sexualities reflect U.S. capital accumulation and are integral to how capital moves, particularly in the Americas. Her book-length project “Flirting with Sexual Economies: A Study on Latinas Who Sell Sex Online” argues for the necessary analysis of sex work in Latina sexualities studies.
Additional Information
Please see below for additional information regarding the program. For further assistance, please contact Visitor Services at (305) 375-1492 or email programs@historymiami.org.
Photo Credits: Main Image—Courtesy of Kro Vargas. Speaker Headshots—Courtesy of Kro Vargas, Dr. Jillian Hernandez, Dr. Elena Guzman, and Dr. Aracely García-González.
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To request materials in accessible format, sign language interpreters, and/or any disability accommodation, please contact Darianne Hernandez, Visitor Services Manager, at accessibility@historymiami.org or call (305) 375-1651 at least two weeks in advance of your visit to initiate your request. TTY users may also call 711 (Florida Relay Service.)
Release
By entering the premises, you consent to interview(s), photography, audio recording, video recording and its/their release, publication, exhibition, or reproduction to be used for news, web casts, promotional purposes, telecasts, advertising, inclusion on web sites, or any other purpose by HistoryMiami Museum (HMM) and its affiliates and representatives. You release HistoryMiami Museum (HMM) its officers and employees, and each and all persons involved from any liability connected with the taking, recording, digitizing, or publication of interviews, photographs, computer images, video and/or or sound recordings. By entering the premises, you waive all rights you may have to any claims for payment or royalties in connection with any exhibition, streaming, webcasting, televising, or other publication of these materials, regardless of the purpose or sponsoring of such exhibiting, broadcasting, webcasting, or other publication irrespective of whether a fee for admission or sponsorship is charged. You also waive any right to inspect or approve any photo, video, or audio recording taken by HistoryMiami Museum (HMM) or the person or entity designated to do so by HistoryMiami Museum (HMM) You have been fully informed of your consent, waiver of liability, and release before entering the premise.
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Release
By entering the premises, you consent to interview(s), photography, audio recording, video recording and its/their release, publication, exhibition, or reproduction to be used for news, web casts, promotional purposes, telecasts, advertising, inclusion on web sites, or any other purpose by HistoryMiami Museum (HMM) and its affiliates and representatives. You release HistoryMiami Museum (HMM) its officers and employees, and each and all persons involved from any liability connected with the taking, recording, digitizing, or publication of interviews, photographs, computer images, video and/or or sound recordings. By entering the premises, you waive all rights you may have to any claims for payment or royalties in connection with any exhibition, streaming, webcasting, televising, or other publication of these materials, regardless of the purpose or sponsoring of such exhibiting, broadcasting, webcasting, or other publication irrespective of whether a fee for admission or sponsorship is charged. You also waive any right to inspect or approve any photo, video, or audio recording taken by HistoryMiami Museum (HMM) or the person or entity designated to do so by HistoryMiami Museum (HMM) You have been fully informed of your consent, waiver of liability, and release before entering the premise.