Jonathan Michael Castillo: Immigrant Owned

Art Building SRO Photo Gallery
February 27 - May 15, 2020

Immigrant Owned is a photographic series by which Jonathan Michael Castillo challenges anti-immigrant sentiment and rhetoric in the United States. Through descriptive portraiture and photographs of interior spaces, the artist has captured an essential and often overlooked part of the American economy. The artist investigates the influences of the immigrant business in giving character to the American neighborhoods and creating job opportunities. The series reminds us that immigrants are entrepreneurs who take risks to contribute, give and share in innumerable ways.

Jonathan Michael Castillo is a photographer based in Chicago and holds an MFA in photography from Columbia College Chicago. His personal projects often focus on people, place, cultural behavior, societal issues and occasionally puppets. He was recently named the 2019 Diane Dammeyer Fellow in Photographic Arts and Social Issues. His work has been featured in Wired, CBS: Los Angeles, Resource Magazine, Peta Pixel, and G1 Globo.