Above, U.S. artist Carolyn Castaño, a descendant of Colombian immigrants who was raised within Mexican American culture in the barrios of Los Angeles, stands before a self-portrait currently on view in "Aparaciones Fantasmales," at the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City.
As we discussed the complexities of identity in contemporary art, Castaño told me that the binding theoretical approach among many of the artists in this show is similar to the ideas at play in "post-black" shows such as "Freestyle": "There is this identity but we're not just about this identity. But there's power in also acknowledging that some of these works have a particular voice in a way, a phantom if you will, of those interests, and they aren't divorced from that."
* More later.