curated exhibition

Storm: A Typhoon Haiyan Recovery Project

What survives in the wake of a storm? One year after Super Typhoon Haiyan, Storm assembles a community of responders. Storm chronicles the creativity generated despite and beyond Haiyan's destruction.

 

The Philippines is exposed to about nineteen tropical cyclones per year. But in November 2013 Typhoon Haiyan became the worst disaster in the history of the Philippines. Haiyan killed more than 6,300 people, cost over $2 billion in damages, and affected over 16 million people.  

 

Our world increasingly is defined by disasters. We have witnessed catastrophes of apocalyptic proportions from storms like Haiyan and Katrina (United States 2005) to earthquakes like Fukushima (Japan 2011) and Port-au-Prince  (Haiti 2010).  During our curatorial process, some of the contributors to this exhibition faced new storms like Typhoons Rammasun, Fung Wong, and Vong Fong.

 

So this is not another moment of silence. We honor the dead with the noise of discontent. We also strive to reflect the radical love that propels efforts to support our kababayan. Little by little, each gesture of hope decenters the typhoon. Each act of hope reveals the people’s determination to recover.

 

Immerse yourself in the different dimensions of the healing process. From scholarly structural critiques to youth-initiated fundraisers. From poetic and musical renditions of collective grief to Hip Hop flash mobs to raise awareness.

 

Celebrate the indomitable human spirit and kapwa never lost in the flood.

 

Co-curated by Johanna F. Almiron and J. Lorenzo Perillo.

November 2014

 

For more information about community organizations that continue to help in the relief effort, navigate to the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns at http://nafconusa.org/ and CARE at http://care.org/emergencies/typhoon-haiyan.

 

Contributors:

Chelo A. and Xien How

Amanda Solomon Amorao

Christian Almiron of Gentei Kaijo

Jennifer Almiron

Ray Basa and Raffy Piamonte

Nana Buxani

Jeff Arellano Cabusao

Critical Filipina/Filipino Studies Collective

Francesco Conte

Franz DG

Rodrigo de la Peña

Hannah Dormido

Hip Hop Dance Association

Francis Estrada

Joel Kahn

Joseph Legaspi

Dindo Llana

Enrico Maniago

Isabel Manalo

Alex Orquiza

Lordy Rodriguez

Robyn Rodriguez

Catcher, Carver and Jhoanna Salazar

E. San Juan Jr.

Janice Sapigao

Melissa Sipin


Special thanks to the American Studies Association, Valerie Francisco, Erwin Mendoza, Anna Sarao, Gina Rosales, Emerson Aquino, Arnel Calvario, Kim Alidio, National Alliance for Filipino Concerns, and Father Alvin Cabacang.

contributor

X

J. Lorenzo Perillo

J. Lorenzo Perillo is a son, brother, ninong, dance theorist, perfomer, researcher, and boardgame enthusiast. More than forty years ago, his father left Bicol University College of Education, enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and blazed a trail for his parents, thirteen siblings, and four children. Lorenzo was born in Honolulu and raised in San Diego, where he spent much of his time rehearsing with the Mira Mesa Co-Ed and All-male dance teams. In the early 2000s, he was a member of Culture Shock, professional Hip Hop dance company and a non-profit organization dedicated to youth outreach. Culture Shock introduced him to the potentials of dance as community activism.

At Cornell University, Dr. Perillo is the Andrew W. Mellon Diversity Postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Performing and Media Arts, and affiliated with the Asian American Studies and American Studies programs. He earned his PhD in Culture and Performance and Concentration in Asian American Studies at UCLA. He also holds a MA degree in American Studies and Graduate Certificate in International Cultural Studies from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. His research interests include Asian American Studies, Global Hip Hop studies, Dance Studies, Critical Race Theory, and postcolonialism. His current book project uses ethnography and choreographic analysis to explore the role of Hip Hop aesthetic practices in Filipino communities in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

Dr. Perillo is featured in Theatre Journal, International Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies, and Hip-hop(e): The Cultural Practice and Critical Pedagogy of International Hip-Hop, and has received generous funding by the Asian Cultural Council, Ford Foundation, Fulbright Group Projects, and Fulbright-Hays. In 2011, as the first Fulbright scholar to research Hip Hop in Asia, he collaborated with faculty and dancers at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, and partnered with Akap Bata (embrace children), an advocacy organization for women and children. In 2013, his essay "'If I Were Not in Prison, I Would Not Be Famous': Discipline, Choreography, and Mimicry in the Philippines," was recognized by the Society of Dance History Scholars with the prestigious Gertrude Lippincott Award, an annual award for the best English-language article in Dance Studies. Dr. Perillo has taught courses at the University of California- Berkeley, University of Hawaii-Mānoa, California State University Dominguez Hills, and UCLA. At Cornell, he utilizes the Cornell Hip Hop Collection in his curriculum and teaches hybrid practice and theory courses entitled "Hip-hop, Dance, and Asian America" and "Choreographies of Race".

contributor

X

Johanna F. Almiron

b. 1978

Johanna F. Almiron was born in the Bronx and raised in the ‘burbs of New York City. Her Ilokano parents immigrated from Baguio City in the early 1970s at the eve of Marcos’ declaration of martial law. She received her B.A. from Oberlin College where she initially forged her political and intellectual commitment to Ethnic Studies as a member of Third World House, a program house founded on the principles of Third World Liberation Front and also an African American studies major with a focus on Asian American Studies. She received her M.A. in Performance Studies at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University and subsequently worked as a writing and creative arts educator at the Saturday Program at Cooper Union and Center for Family Life at Sunset Park, Brooklyn. She obtained her PhD. in American Studies at The University of Hawai’i at Manoa where she led multiple artistic productions collaborating with social justice and community organizations including the Pilipina Rural Project & Domestic Violence Clearinghouse (Artistic Director, Filipino Vagina Monologues), Urban Babaylan, Filipino College Youth Summit and Local 5’s Unite Here! (Hotel workers campaign) and KTUH-FM radio. In 2013, she was a visiting scholar at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa where she participated in the contemporary art and design scene such as regularly hosting The Design Share Party directed by Neo Trinity Rakajane.
 
Dr. Almiron is currently the 2014 Nellie Y. McKay Fellow and Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison in the Department of Afro-American Studies.  Based on her doctoral research, she is completing a manuscript that examines the social statements and persistent cultural relevance of the art of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Her cultural studies and interdisciplinary scholarship has been supported by various awards including most notably the pre-doctoral fellowship at the Frederick Douglass Institute for African and African American Studies at the University of Rochester. She has written catalog texts for Rush Arts Gallery (NY), LAX Arts (LA) and Saltworks Gallery (Atlanta). She happily joins the Center for Art and Thought team with the hopes to nurture the ties that bind between Filipinas and Filipinos throughout the digital diaspora and beyond.
 
Photo credit: Victor Dlamini.

location

X
  • Born: Bronx, NY, USA
  • Based: New York, NY, USA
  • Also Based in: Honolulu, HI, USA

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American Studies Association - "The Fun and the Fury" - Flashmob - November 8, 2014

Raffy Piamonte

2014 Digital photographs and video Duration: 2m 45s Courtesy of the artist

contributor

X

Raffy Piamonte

b. 1986

Raffy Piamonte has been dancing since the age of 4. However, it wasn’t until the age of 15 that he decided to take it seriously and audition for teams locally in San Diego. Since then, he’s danced in companies like FORMALity, The Effect, CADC & Boogiezone’s Breed. Currently, he is one of the Artistic Directors for Boogiezone’s Offspring Young Directors Program and a newly indicted member of Culture Shock Los Angeles. Aside from dance, Raffy serves as a Flood Control Engineer for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works and enjoys his work as a public servant. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling, going to concerts and riding his bike.

location

X
  • Born: Vallejo, CA, USA
  • Based: Los Angeles, CA, USA
  • Also Based in: San Diego, CA, USA

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X

Tulong

Franz DG

2014 Illustration Courtesy of the artist

contributor

X

Franz DG

b. 1984
image description
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I was born in 1984 in Quezon City, Metro Manila. My parents are both artists. My dad Danilo Garcia is an abstract visual artist. My mother Lolita Garcia is an educator. She was a visual communications and fine arts professor at the University of the Philippines at Dilliman. It was natural that I picked up the arts. I started with pencil and Crayola crayons. My parents did not want an artist’s life for me because it is difficult especially in the Philippines. They’d hide my pens and pencils because I was drawing ninja turtles. Ninja turtles made me want to draw! My mom said “Uh-oh.” They wanted to stop me but they could not. When they saw that my passion for art was unstoppable, they introduced me to Fernando Cena. They took me to a class every Sunday at The Heart Center, a kind of hospital. The lessons took place in their big hall and it was there that I learned the foundations of art. Although my father definitely influenced my work ethic, his abstract style of art is his own. I am more drawn to traditional fine arts. 

In terms of content, I draw social justice art. I was almost 17 years old when I left the Philippines. Since my mom was a professor, I would see students drawing on placards messages like “No to Student Hikes!” I wondered why they were writing that. What was going on? I began to comprehend the balance of society in the Philippines through the perspective of students’ protests and activity. They opened my eyes and made me question things. My mom also helped me develop that social consciousness.

At the end of high school, I won an art contest in which the grand prize was a full scholarship to a fine arts school in Texas set up by a Lion’s club. One week after I graduated, I took the art exam in high school to qualify for the University of the Philippines in Fine Arts. That very day, my mother told me, ”Oh yeah, you’re flying to Texas, America, in one week.” I was totally taken by surprise by the news. I didn’t even get a chance to properly say goodbye to my friends. My initial experience in Texas was complete culture shock. I barely spoke English. After a couple of weeks, I told my parents that I wanted to move to L.A. where I could attend vocational school and also link up with my father’s college friends. And that is when I met the chair of Habi Arts, Danilo “PAPO” De Asis in early 2001.

Under De Asis’ influence, I returned to the questions that began with my exposure to the students from the Philippines.  I began to connect that history to the present. What is really going on in the Philippines? Papo showed me everything. I realized things about the Philippines that I didn’t know when I was actually there. Many years later in 2012, Habi Arts co-curated my solo art exhibition “Kiskisan” which means "to clash.” In this exhibition and my art in general, I try to show the richness of the struggle and history of the Philippines.

As an artist, I work hard to develop illustrations that speak to me and to others about the beauty that exists in the struggles within society. Part of my process before I begin drawing is reading as much as I can about the specific set of issues that I am about to recreate on paper or canvas. I do not merely want to capture the image with my brushes; rather, with careful, colorful strokes, I want to challenge, question, and create dialogue.
 
With every finished work, I try to breathe life into a forgotten culture so that its designs, ideas, innovations, and lifestyle are displayed in my illustrations. The challenge with any recreated moment from the past is to not caricature the moment and instead capture it in all its rich history. My artwork speaks not only for me but for people that are silenced.
 
That is why the project Storm is important.  My illustrations question and expose the causes and legacies of this devastating tragedy.

location

X
  • Born: Quezon City, Philippines
  • Based: Los Angeles, CA, USA

comments

X

Ahon

Franz DG

2014 Illustration Courtesy of the artist

contributor

X

Franz DG

b. 1984
image description
  • See All Works
  • visit website

I was born in 1984 in Quezon City, Metro Manila. My parents are both artists. My dad Danilo Garcia is an abstract visual artist. My mother Lolita Garcia is an educator. She was a visual communications and fine arts professor at the University of the Philippines at Dilliman. It was natural that I picked up the arts. I started with pencil and Crayola crayons. My parents did not want an artist’s life for me because it is difficult especially in the Philippines. They’d hide my pens and pencils because I was drawing ninja turtles. Ninja turtles made me want to draw! My mom said “Uh-oh.” They wanted to stop me but they could not. When they saw that my passion for art was unstoppable, they introduced me to Fernando Cena. They took me to a class every Sunday at The Heart Center, a kind of hospital. The lessons took place in their big hall and it was there that I learned the foundations of art. Although my father definitely influenced my work ethic, his abstract style of art is his own. I am more drawn to traditional fine arts. 

In terms of content, I draw social justice art. I was almost 17 years old when I left the Philippines. Since my mom was a professor, I would see students drawing on placards messages like “No to Student Hikes!” I wondered why they were writing that. What was going on? I began to comprehend the balance of society in the Philippines through the perspective of students’ protests and activity. They opened my eyes and made me question things. My mom also helped me develop that social consciousness.

At the end of high school, I won an art contest in which the grand prize was a full scholarship to a fine arts school in Texas set up by a Lion’s club. One week after I graduated, I took the art exam in high school to qualify for the University of the Philippines in Fine Arts. That very day, my mother told me, ”Oh yeah, you’re flying to Texas, America, in one week.” I was totally taken by surprise by the news. I didn’t even get a chance to properly say goodbye to my friends. My initial experience in Texas was complete culture shock. I barely spoke English. After a couple of weeks, I told my parents that I wanted to move to L.A. where I could attend vocational school and also link up with my father’s college friends. And that is when I met the chair of Habi Arts, Danilo “PAPO” De Asis in early 2001.

Under De Asis’ influence, I returned to the questions that began with my exposure to the students from the Philippines.  I began to connect that history to the present. What is really going on in the Philippines? Papo showed me everything. I realized things about the Philippines that I didn’t know when I was actually there. Many years later in 2012, Habi Arts co-curated my solo art exhibition “Kiskisan” which means "to clash.” In this exhibition and my art in general, I try to show the richness of the struggle and history of the Philippines.

As an artist, I work hard to develop illustrations that speak to me and to others about the beauty that exists in the struggles within society. Part of my process before I begin drawing is reading as much as I can about the specific set of issues that I am about to recreate on paper or canvas. I do not merely want to capture the image with my brushes; rather, with careful, colorful strokes, I want to challenge, question, and create dialogue.
 
With every finished work, I try to breathe life into a forgotten culture so that its designs, ideas, innovations, and lifestyle are displayed in my illustrations. The challenge with any recreated moment from the past is to not caricature the moment and instead capture it in all its rich history. My artwork speaks not only for me but for people that are silenced.
 
That is why the project Storm is important.  My illustrations question and expose the causes and legacies of this devastating tragedy.

location

X
  • Born: Quezon City, Philippines
  • Based: Los Angeles, CA, USA

comments

X

Build a Brighter Future

Franz DG

2014 Illustration Courtesy of the artist

contributor

X

Franz DG

b. 1984
image description
  • See All Works
  • visit website

I was born in 1984 in Quezon City, Metro Manila. My parents are both artists. My dad Danilo Garcia is an abstract visual artist. My mother Lolita Garcia is an educator. She was a visual communications and fine arts professor at the University of the Philippines at Dilliman. It was natural that I picked up the arts. I started with pencil and Crayola crayons. My parents did not want an artist’s life for me because it is difficult especially in the Philippines. They’d hide my pens and pencils because I was drawing ninja turtles. Ninja turtles made me want to draw! My mom said “Uh-oh.” They wanted to stop me but they could not. When they saw that my passion for art was unstoppable, they introduced me to Fernando Cena. They took me to a class every Sunday at The Heart Center, a kind of hospital. The lessons took place in their big hall and it was there that I learned the foundations of art. Although my father definitely influenced my work ethic, his abstract style of art is his own. I am more drawn to traditional fine arts. 

In terms of content, I draw social justice art. I was almost 17 years old when I left the Philippines. Since my mom was a professor, I would see students drawing on placards messages like “No to Student Hikes!” I wondered why they were writing that. What was going on? I began to comprehend the balance of society in the Philippines through the perspective of students’ protests and activity. They opened my eyes and made me question things. My mom also helped me develop that social consciousness.

At the end of high school, I won an art contest in which the grand prize was a full scholarship to a fine arts school in Texas set up by a Lion’s club. One week after I graduated, I took the art exam in high school to qualify for the University of the Philippines in Fine Arts. That very day, my mother told me, ”Oh yeah, you’re flying to Texas, America, in one week.” I was totally taken by surprise by the news. I didn’t even get a chance to properly say goodbye to my friends. My initial experience in Texas was complete culture shock. I barely spoke English. After a couple of weeks, I told my parents that I wanted to move to L.A. where I could attend vocational school and also link up with my father’s college friends. And that is when I met the chair of Habi Arts, Danilo “PAPO” De Asis in early 2001.

Under De Asis’ influence, I returned to the questions that began with my exposure to the students from the Philippines.  I began to connect that history to the present. What is really going on in the Philippines? Papo showed me everything. I realized things about the Philippines that I didn’t know when I was actually there. Many years later in 2012, Habi Arts co-curated my solo art exhibition “Kiskisan” which means "to clash.” In this exhibition and my art in general, I try to show the richness of the struggle and history of the Philippines.

As an artist, I work hard to develop illustrations that speak to me and to others about the beauty that exists in the struggles within society. Part of my process before I begin drawing is reading as much as I can about the specific set of issues that I am about to recreate on paper or canvas. I do not merely want to capture the image with my brushes; rather, with careful, colorful strokes, I want to challenge, question, and create dialogue.
 
With every finished work, I try to breathe life into a forgotten culture so that its designs, ideas, innovations, and lifestyle are displayed in my illustrations. The challenge with any recreated moment from the past is to not caricature the moment and instead capture it in all its rich history. My artwork speaks not only for me but for people that are silenced.
 
That is why the project Storm is important.  My illustrations question and expose the causes and legacies of this devastating tragedy.

location

X
  • Born: Quezon City, Philippines
  • Based: Los Angeles, CA, USA

comments

X

Authority Figures

Francis Estrada

2012 Gouache, collage, and gold leaf on paper 7" x 9" Courtesy of the artist

contributor

X

Francis Estrada

b. 1975

Born in the Philipines and currently residing in Brooklyn, Francis Estrada is a visual artist, museum educator at the Museum of Modern Art, and freelance educator of Filipino art and culture. Francis has a fine arts degree in painting and drawing from San Jose State University, and he has taught in a variety of studio, classroom, and museum settings to diverse audiences, including programs for adults with disabilities, cultural institutions, and after-school programs. He was also an administrator and educator at the Museum for African Art, where he enjoyed teaching about the amalgamation of art and culture through objects. Francis exhibits his work nationally, including online publications. His work focuses on culture, history, and perception.

I investigate relationships between characters and their environment. I incorporate pieces of personal, historic and/or ethnographic photographs, text, and motifs (most of which broach the combined themes of history, sentimentality, and nostalgia).  Using some or all of these pieces, I compose scenarios with which I find personal connections then arrange them without providing a complete image or narrative. By de-contextualizing visual images (figures, symbols, motifs) from their original source, I attempt to create an ambiguous space for the viewer to complete. I interrogate how context is created through combinations of these visual elements.  How does the viewer identify with the images presented, and does the composition create a narrative?  How do the combinations of images create notions of space, place, history, identity, or memory?  By creating drawings that assimilate text, photographic reproductions, and symbols, I provide the viewer with a space in which they can decipher the visual clues and “complete” the work.

My art is a tool through which I confront how our understandings of culture are mediated, and the methods through which history and memory are created and perpetuated. I think of my work as "partial portraits" that are activated by the viewer.

I believe that my work speaks to the theme of Storm: A Typhoon Haiyan Recovery Project by connecting to how the media represented the country through images from the aftermath of the storm.  Also, various fundraising events brought out a vast array of artists and performers who used their talent to share Filipino customs (dance, song, martial arts).  Between the media and these events, people were able to see and experience various aspects of Filipino culture.  I feel that my drawings similarly portray various aspects of Philippine culture through the images that I choose to show. 

location

X
  • Born: Manila, Philippines
  • Based: Brooklyn, NY, USA

comments

X

Comfort the Lonely

Francis Estrada

2012 Gouache, collage, and vellum on paper 5.5" x 7.5" Courtesy of the artist

contributor

X

Francis Estrada

b. 1975

Born in the Philipines and currently residing in Brooklyn, Francis Estrada is a visual artist, museum educator at the Museum of Modern Art, and freelance educator of Filipino art and culture. Francis has a fine arts degree in painting and drawing from San Jose State University, and he has taught in a variety of studio, classroom, and museum settings to diverse audiences, including programs for adults with disabilities, cultural institutions, and after-school programs. He was also an administrator and educator at the Museum for African Art, where he enjoyed teaching about the amalgamation of art and culture through objects. Francis exhibits his work nationally, including online publications. His work focuses on culture, history, and perception.

I investigate relationships between characters and their environment. I incorporate pieces of personal, historic and/or ethnographic photographs, text, and motifs (most of which broach the combined themes of history, sentimentality, and nostalgia).  Using some or all of these pieces, I compose scenarios with which I find personal connections then arrange them without providing a complete image or narrative. By de-contextualizing visual images (figures, symbols, motifs) from their original source, I attempt to create an ambiguous space for the viewer to complete. I interrogate how context is created through combinations of these visual elements.  How does the viewer identify with the images presented, and does the composition create a narrative?  How do the combinations of images create notions of space, place, history, identity, or memory?  By creating drawings that assimilate text, photographic reproductions, and symbols, I provide the viewer with a space in which they can decipher the visual clues and “complete” the work.

My art is a tool through which I confront how our understandings of culture are mediated, and the methods through which history and memory are created and perpetuated. I think of my work as "partial portraits" that are activated by the viewer.

I believe that my work speaks to the theme of Storm: A Typhoon Haiyan Recovery Project by connecting to how the media represented the country through images from the aftermath of the storm.  Also, various fundraising events brought out a vast array of artists and performers who used their talent to share Filipino customs (dance, song, martial arts).  Between the media and these events, people were able to see and experience various aspects of Filipino culture.  I feel that my drawings similarly portray various aspects of Philippine culture through the images that I choose to show. 

location

X
  • Born: Manila, Philippines
  • Based: Brooklyn, NY, USA

comments

X

Sayaw

Francis Estrada

2010 Charcoal on paper 18" x 24" Courtesy of the artist

contributor

X

Francis Estrada

b. 1975

Born in the Philipines and currently residing in Brooklyn, Francis Estrada is a visual artist, museum educator at the Museum of Modern Art, and freelance educator of Filipino art and culture. Francis has a fine arts degree in painting and drawing from San Jose State University, and he has taught in a variety of studio, classroom, and museum settings to diverse audiences, including programs for adults with disabilities, cultural institutions, and after-school programs. He was also an administrator and educator at the Museum for African Art, where he enjoyed teaching about the amalgamation of art and culture through objects. Francis exhibits his work nationally, including online publications. His work focuses on culture, history, and perception.

I investigate relationships between characters and their environment. I incorporate pieces of personal, historic and/or ethnographic photographs, text, and motifs (most of which broach the combined themes of history, sentimentality, and nostalgia).  Using some or all of these pieces, I compose scenarios with which I find personal connections then arrange them without providing a complete image or narrative. By de-contextualizing visual images (figures, symbols, motifs) from their original source, I attempt to create an ambiguous space for the viewer to complete. I interrogate how context is created through combinations of these visual elements.  How does the viewer identify with the images presented, and does the composition create a narrative?  How do the combinations of images create notions of space, place, history, identity, or memory?  By creating drawings that assimilate text, photographic reproductions, and symbols, I provide the viewer with a space in which they can decipher the visual clues and “complete” the work.

My art is a tool through which I confront how our understandings of culture are mediated, and the methods through which history and memory are created and perpetuated. I think of my work as "partial portraits" that are activated by the viewer.

I believe that my work speaks to the theme of Storm: A Typhoon Haiyan Recovery Project by connecting to how the media represented the country through images from the aftermath of the storm.  Also, various fundraising events brought out a vast array of artists and performers who used their talent to share Filipino customs (dance, song, martial arts).  Between the media and these events, people were able to see and experience various aspects of Filipino culture.  I feel that my drawings similarly portray various aspects of Philippine culture through the images that I choose to show. 

location

X
  • Born: Manila, Philippines
  • Based: Brooklyn, NY, USA

comments

X

Bulaklak

Francis Estrada

2012 Gouache, charcoal, and gold leaf on paper 5.5" x 7.5" Courtesy of the artist

contributor

X

Francis Estrada

b. 1975

Born in the Philipines and currently residing in Brooklyn, Francis Estrada is a visual artist, museum educator at the Museum of Modern Art, and freelance educator of Filipino art and culture. Francis has a fine arts degree in painting and drawing from San Jose State University, and he has taught in a variety of studio, classroom, and museum settings to diverse audiences, including programs for adults with disabilities, cultural institutions, and after-school programs. He was also an administrator and educator at the Museum for African Art, where he enjoyed teaching about the amalgamation of art and culture through objects. Francis exhibits his work nationally, including online publications. His work focuses on culture, history, and perception.

I investigate relationships between characters and their environment. I incorporate pieces of personal, historic and/or ethnographic photographs, text, and motifs (most of which broach the combined themes of history, sentimentality, and nostalgia).  Using some or all of these pieces, I compose scenarios with which I find personal connections then arrange them without providing a complete image or narrative. By de-contextualizing visual images (figures, symbols, motifs) from their original source, I attempt to create an ambiguous space for the viewer to complete. I interrogate how context is created through combinations of these visual elements.  How does the viewer identify with the images presented, and does the composition create a narrative?  How do the combinations of images create notions of space, place, history, identity, or memory?  By creating drawings that assimilate text, photographic reproductions, and symbols, I provide the viewer with a space in which they can decipher the visual clues and “complete” the work.

My art is a tool through which I confront how our understandings of culture are mediated, and the methods through which history and memory are created and perpetuated. I think of my work as "partial portraits" that are activated by the viewer.

I believe that my work speaks to the theme of Storm: A Typhoon Haiyan Recovery Project by connecting to how the media represented the country through images from the aftermath of the storm.  Also, various fundraising events brought out a vast array of artists and performers who used their talent to share Filipino customs (dance, song, martial arts).  Between the media and these events, people were able to see and experience various aspects of Filipino culture.  I feel that my drawings similarly portray various aspects of Philippine culture through the images that I choose to show. 

location

X
  • Born: Manila, Philippines
  • Based: Brooklyn, NY, USA

comments

X

Memories (what I may not have forgotten to remember)

Francis Estrada

2013 Gouache and charcoal on paper 9" x 7" Courtesy of the artist

contributor

X

Francis Estrada

b. 1975

Born in the Philipines and currently residing in Brooklyn, Francis Estrada is a visual artist, museum educator at the Museum of Modern Art, and freelance educator of Filipino art and culture. Francis has a fine arts degree in painting and drawing from San Jose State University, and he has taught in a variety of studio, classroom, and museum settings to diverse audiences, including programs for adults with disabilities, cultural institutions, and after-school programs. He was also an administrator and educator at the Museum for African Art, where he enjoyed teaching about the amalgamation of art and culture through objects. Francis exhibits his work nationally, including online publications. His work focuses on culture, history, and perception.

I investigate relationships between characters and their environment. I incorporate pieces of personal, historic and/or ethnographic photographs, text, and motifs (most of which broach the combined themes of history, sentimentality, and nostalgia).  Using some or all of these pieces, I compose scenarios with which I find personal connections then arrange them without providing a complete image or narrative. By de-contextualizing visual images (figures, symbols, motifs) from their original source, I attempt to create an ambiguous space for the viewer to complete. I interrogate how context is created through combinations of these visual elements.  How does the viewer identify with the images presented, and does the composition create a narrative?  How do the combinations of images create notions of space, place, history, identity, or memory?  By creating drawings that assimilate text, photographic reproductions, and symbols, I provide the viewer with a space in which they can decipher the visual clues and “complete” the work.

My art is a tool through which I confront how our understandings of culture are mediated, and the methods through which history and memory are created and perpetuated. I think of my work as "partial portraits" that are activated by the viewer.

I believe that my work speaks to the theme of Storm: A Typhoon Haiyan Recovery Project by connecting to how the media represented the country through images from the aftermath of the storm.  Also, various fundraising events brought out a vast array of artists and performers who used their talent to share Filipino customs (dance, song, martial arts).  Between the media and these events, people were able to see and experience various aspects of Filipino culture.  I feel that my drawings similarly portray various aspects of Philippine culture through the images that I choose to show. 

location

X
  • Born: Manila, Philippines
  • Based: Brooklyn, NY, USA

comments

X