Paula Castillo

Paula Castillo used the Land Line residency to investigate the history and symbolism of corn, revealing the complex and malleable intersections between physical and cultural landscapes. What began as an inquiry into the divination practice of tirar maíz (throwing corn) and curanderismo (a Latin American folk medicine practice) transformed into a project exploring the key role of corn within human movement, conflict, and survival. The resulting artwork explores the often-unacknowledged role that plants have played in the complexities of human history.

About the Artist

A Latinx artist based in Belén, New Mexico, Paula Castillo creates intimate and large-scale sculptural installations using generative patterns and structures to draw parallels between the fluid and solid forms of life. Castillo attended Yale University and worked in an electronics factory where she forged her early career in contemporary sculpture. The complex and malleable intersections between the physical and cultural landscape are Castillo’s primary source. Her work has been reviewed by publications such as Hyperallergic, Washington Post, and The New York Times. She exhibits nationally and internationally, and her work is in collections such as the National Museum of Women in the Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts.