In Cali es Cali, Carolyn Castaño traces the trajectory of her family moving between Cali, Colombia and Los Angeles, California. She uses the photographic archive of her late father, Jairo Castaño, as a starting point to explore themes of home, memory, and cultural exchange. Jairo was an amateur photographer who made and collected more than 4,000 photographs of Colombia and California landscapes, his family, and the Latinx community. Photographs from the archive and large-scale landscape drawings by Castaño are presented alongside personal mementos, such as camera equipment, passports, airline tickets, and clothing. The installation transforms the gallery into a hybrid space that evokes traditional museum display and the Castaño family home, intentionally blurring the boundaries between personal narrative and the universal immigrant experience.
The personal experience of the Castaño family operates as a metaphor for the larger immigrant experience and calls into question the possibility of belonging versus visiting. Here Super 8 footage of the Castaño family visiting American tourist landmarks, including Cape Canaveral in Florida, is shown alongside footage of the Barstow family from America visiting tourist sites in Colombia.