Video art project inspired by Route 66’s people

“Somewhere in Between: Los Angeles,” a video project by Bia Gayotto at the Pasadena Museum of California Art, is inspired by people along Route 66 in the L.A. region, according to an article in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

The 20-minute two-screen piece places architectural, natural and suburban scenery against views of bi- and multi-cultural people going through the ordinary paces of life in 21 neighborhoods along Route 66, from Pasadena to Santa Monica.

“It’s about a sense of place and community and two juxtapositions between people, landscapes and stories,” Gayotto said. “The video is a narrative video, so it’s really about the experience of multiple places and people. It’s like a mosaic, a patchwork where you put parts together in your mind.” […]

It took five months to make “Somewhere in Between.” The first step was connecting with the communities along Route 66 and finding the subjects for her work. The final product features people of diverse cultural mixes, such as Pan-African/Native American and Japanese/Irish/Hungarian, and careers like dietician, school teacher and choreographer, at home, work and other places.

One of the film’s interview subjects is artist Amy M. Inouye, who perhaps is most famous for rescuing the Chicken Boy statue from a closing downtown Los Angeles restaurant and installing it on the roof of her Future Studio Gallery in L.A.’s Highland Park neighborhood, which includes a Route 66 alignment.

Gayotto has produced similar video projects about Silicon Valley and Chicago. Here’s the nine-minute clip from the Chicago work:

Somewhere in Between: Chicago, 2011 (excerpt) from Bia Gayotto on Vimeo.

“Somewhere in Between” will be on display at the Pasadena museum through Jan. 5.

(Still from “Somewhere in Between: Los Angeles” via the Pasadena Museum of California Art)

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