Paola Calderón - De Canela
Coming Soon
About the Exhibit
Spanning fifteen years of image-making, Paola Calderón’s work is a testament to the ways photography can hold memory, place, and identity. Born in Washington, D.C. and grounded in the cultural roots of El Salvador and Guatemala, Calderón approaches her practice as both documentation and devotion—an ongoing dialogue with the landscapes, textures, and light that define Latin America.
This exhibition gathers photographs captured between 2010 and 2025 across Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Brazil. Each image reveals Calderón’s sensitivity to the quiet power of the everyday—the warmth of light, the vibrancy of color, the tactile presence of nature. Her lens offers more than observation; it is an invitation into a lived experience of longing and belonging.
What emerges is both a celebration and an evolution: the vision of a young artist searching for home, maturing into a body of work that honors memory while embracing growth. Calderón’s images remind us that home is not only a place, but also a feeling carried within us, alive in our connections to culture, family, and land.
Artist Statement
Paola Calderón, a Washington, D.C. native with roots in El Salvador and Guatemala, creates work that reflects her deep connection to place, memory, and belonging. Inspired by color, textures,light, and the beauty of nature, Calderón uses her lens to weave together personal history with the collective spirit of Latin America.
This exhibition brings together works spanning 2010 to 2025, capturing moments across Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Brazil. Through her photography, Calderón shares both a yearning for home and a celebration of cultural richness—images that honor simplicity, tradition, and the vibrant essence of everyday life.
At its core, her work is a story of evolution: a little girl longing for home, now grown into an artist who transforms memory into image, nostalgia into celebration. Each photograph becomes both a reflection and an offering—an intimate reminder of where she comes from, and how deeply those roots continue to shape her vision.
Artist Bio
Paola Calderón is a Washington, D.C.–based photographer and visual artist with roots in El Salvador and Guatemala. Her work is deeply informed by her background in photography, fine art, and photojournalism, weaving together technical precision with a sensitivity to culture, memory, and nature.
Her photography reflects both a personal journey of belonging and a broader celebration of the textures, light, and spirit of everyday life.
In addition to her artistic practice, Calderón has served as an art educator in Washington, D.C. for more than a decade, sharing her passion for creativity and visual storytelling with the next generation. She continues to explore the intersections of heritage, identity, and expression through both her teaching and her evolving practice behind the lens.
