Jen Castro is a community organizer and artist now living in Tio’tia:ke (Montreal, Canada), as part of the Kichwa-Mestiza diaspora. She has been using digital and analogue tech to bring communities closer to where they want to go. Her work has largely centered on reframing projects to uphold dignity and traditional ways of being in communities whose rich cultures and histories are generally overlooked or imposed on by uninvited external forces.
In Canada, this has meant acting in service of Indigenous communities through digital media and event support. In South America, this has meant cross-pollinating stories of survival, resilience, and resistance to colonization and economic imperialism by multinationals, while delivering contextualized training on technologies that can be used to intervene on community disempowerment.
Jen’s work is rooted in active investigation of how industry, migration, displacement, and social constructs intersect and impact both communities and individuals. Her cross-movement work with communities has included offering facilitation and training for people working towards social and climate justice. This engagement with the grassroots was forged while in East Vancouver, British Columbia from 2009-2019 where much of her work was fueled by community-based artistic practices and storytelling. While living in Montreal, she is focused on adapting materials and methodologies for learning to use digital tools and thinking about technology, and is driven to expand explorations of cross-cultural communities through language, technology, and art.
Jen has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from York University in Toronto, Ontario specializing in the Visual Arts Studio practice. She also completed the New Media Design and Web Development program at BCIT in Burnaby, British Columbia.
