Born in Lima and raised by her grandmother, a beloved mentor that she continues to visit annually, Romina Del Castillo’s artistic practice remains close to her Peruvian roots. She has produced a Self-Portrait as Santa Rosa de Lima (the patron saint of Peru) and a series depicting Peruvian camelids (llama, alpaca, guanaco, and vicuña) which interrogates the various semiotic associations that are tied to those animals.

Her latest series, Maimantataj Kanki? (Quechua for “Where are you from?”) is inspired by traditional Andean aguayos, rectangular woven textiles used by the indigenous people to keep warm and to carry all manner of burdensome loads from groceries to children. Though the designs are inspired by traditional Andean textiles (never from living designers, Del Castillo asserts, to avoid unintentional cultural appropriation), the distinct straw marquetry technique she employs stems from her time as an assistant to the French artist, Paulin Paris.

Romina was a recipient of the Orval Dillingham College of the Arts Scholarship and her work has been included in group exhibitions at the Museum of Latin American Art, Torrance Art Museum, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, the University Art Museum at California State University Long Beach, the Brand Library in Glendale. She painted a large mural on the outside of the Cerritos College Fine Arts Building for the FAR Bazaar in 2017. Del Castillo remains an active member of Long Beach’s FA4 Collective, though she has recently relocated to Portland, Oregon.

www.rominadelcastillo.com
IG: @rominibini