Columbia College Chicago announced on Apr. 22 that two of its alumni, Jonathan Castillo and Allison Grant, have been named 2026 Guggenheim Fellows, one of the most prestigious honors in the arts and humanities.
The fellowships are awarded annually by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to individuals who have demonstrated exceptional creative ability through a rigorous peer review process. Recipients join a distinguished group of artists, writers, and scholars whose work is shaping cultural conversations.
Jonathan Castillo, an alum and faculty member at Columbia College Chicago with an MFA earned in 2019, is recognized for his work documenting personal and communal histories. His projects explore themes such as immigration, labor, debt, economics, and identity. Castillo’s approach often centers communities whose stories are overlooked or simplified. “I can draw a direct line between Columbia College and my large-scale, permanent installation at O’Hare,” Castillo said.
Castillo’s ongoing project “Immigrant Owned” began as a graduate thesis documenting small businesses across Chicago. With guidance from faculty members at Columbia College Chicago and connections made through institutions like the Museum of Contemporary Photography, he refined his focus to immigrant-owned businesses—a direction that led to national recognition including permanent installations at O’Hare International Airport’s Terminal 5.
His recent commissions include adapting his practice for the City of Chicago’s Citywide Plan by focusing on Black- and Latino-owned businesses on the South and West Sides. This project resulted in publicly distributed photo books, postcards, framed works acquired into Chicago’s public art collection, as well as installations at City Hall, Midway Airport, and the Chicago Cultural Center.
With support from the Guggenheim Foundation fellowship this year—alongside being named a finalist for the Artadia Chicago Awards—Castillo plans to expand his work nationally by photographing immigrant-owned businesses across the country: “I’ve always thought of the Chicago work as a starting point,” he said. “I’m going to make it a truly national project.” As an adjunct professor at Columbia College Chicago he integrates professional experience into teaching: “My problem in school was that no one talked about the business of being an artist,” he said.
Castillo encourages students to take advantage of opportunities available through Columbia’s creative community: “Show up to things. Go to lectures, go to openings… apply to everything,” he said. He also shares advice from Professor Emeritus Dawoud Bey: “It’s impossible to make good work, show it to lots of people, and for nothing to happen.”
