Inter-culturalism is the new melting pot: Mash-up identity explored

Artist Bia Gayotto in front of her two-screen installation

Artist Bia Gayotto came to Los Angeles from Brazil nearly 20 years ago to get her MFA. She stayed for love. Now, she considers herself Brazilian-American. This mash-up of identity informs not just her personal existence, but her latest work, “Somewhere in Between: Los Angeles.”

For the two-screen video installation just installed at the Pasadena Museum of California Art, Gayotto interviewed residents of 16 neighborhoods along Route 66, from Santa Monica to Pasadena. The only consistent thing about her subjects: How many cultures each individual inhabits.

How they navigate and inhabit these cultures, this “somewhere in between,” is the focus of Gayotto’s piece, but don’t go expecting a documentary. Somewhere in Between: Los Angeles is an ethereal piece that weaves together images of people and places, set to a haunting soundtrack.

Here’s what Gayotto had to say about her work: