topic

Genders and sexualities

In “The Filipina's Breast: Savagery, Docility and the Erotics of the American Empire,” Nerissa Balce powerfully argues that “the bare brown bosoms of indigenous women were markers of savagery, colonial desire, and a justification for Western imperial rule. A foundational project of European and American imperialisms was the creation of an archive of images of the non-Western other whose inferiority was marked by female nakedness” (Social Text 24.2 [Summer 2006], 89).


These gendered, sexualized, racialized images conflated women and land as imperial possessions and legitimated US (and previously Spanish and Japanese) civilizing missions. Nor was this representation limited to women: Filipino men—albeit according to different tropes—were also archived by empire as gendered, sexualized and racialized objects.


In taking “genders and sexualities” as a topic, we gesture towards not only the complications of contemporary negotiations and constructions of “masculinity,” “femininity,” “heterosexuality,” “homosexuality” and their many local and global iterations but also to their inevitable entanglement with the histories of colonialism, imperialism, militarization, globalization and capitalism.

"God Mend Thy Every Flaw ..."

Kiam Marcelo Junio

2013 17 in. x 24 in. Material courtesy of Kiam Marcelo Junio From American Karaoke

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Kiam Marcelo Junio

b. 1984
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Kiam Marcelo Junio is a Chicago-based interdisciplinary artist working across media, from dance and performance to sculpture, installation, photography, and writing. Their research and art work center around queer identity, Philippine history and the Filipino diaspora, Western imperialism, and personal and collective healing through collaborative projects and individual self-work. Kiam served seven years in the US Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. Their work has been exhibited, screened, and performed throughout Chicago at Boyfriends, Defibrillator, Links Hall, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Bijou Theater, and the Field Museum, as well as in New York City, NY; Riverside, CA; Mexico City, Mexico; Cadiz, Spain; and Montreal, Canada. They were born in the Philippines and have lived in the US, Japan, and Spain.

The role of the artist, the magician, the prophet, and each individual, is to bring about change in the world through one's own personal transformations, revolutions, and revelations.

As an artist who is also a person of color, an Asian American, a Filipino immigrant, a US Navy veteran, gender-fluid, and decidedly queer, my work exists within these contexts but is not bound by them. I use a multidisciplinary approach in my research and art making. I develop a conceptual ecosystem in which my works function in myriad ways, informing one another. I create photos, installations, videos, and performances. I work collaboratively with local artists, dancers, musicians, and organizers. I foster relationships within my communities and relish in our blossoming. By working with others, we come to know and become more ourselves.

I look towards the future and feel its inertia - the momentum that propels us into infinite uncharted moments, carrying the past forward

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  • Born: Quezon City, Philippines
  • Based: Chicago, IL, USA

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"Land Where My Fathers Died ..."

Kiam Marcelo Junio

2013 17 in. x 24 in. Material courtesy of Kiam Marcelo Junio From American Karaoke

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Kiam Marcelo Junio

b. 1984
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Kiam Marcelo Junio is a Chicago-based interdisciplinary artist working across media, from dance and performance to sculpture, installation, photography, and writing. Their research and art work center around queer identity, Philippine history and the Filipino diaspora, Western imperialism, and personal and collective healing through collaborative projects and individual self-work. Kiam served seven years in the US Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. Their work has been exhibited, screened, and performed throughout Chicago at Boyfriends, Defibrillator, Links Hall, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Bijou Theater, and the Field Museum, as well as in New York City, NY; Riverside, CA; Mexico City, Mexico; Cadiz, Spain; and Montreal, Canada. They were born in the Philippines and have lived in the US, Japan, and Spain.

The role of the artist, the magician, the prophet, and each individual, is to bring about change in the world through one's own personal transformations, revolutions, and revelations.

As an artist who is also a person of color, an Asian American, a Filipino immigrant, a US Navy veteran, gender-fluid, and decidedly queer, my work exists within these contexts but is not bound by them. I use a multidisciplinary approach in my research and art making. I develop a conceptual ecosystem in which my works function in myriad ways, informing one another. I create photos, installations, videos, and performances. I work collaboratively with local artists, dancers, musicians, and organizers. I foster relationships within my communities and relish in our blossoming. By working with others, we come to know and become more ourselves.

I look towards the future and feel its inertia - the momentum that propels us into infinite uncharted moments, carrying the past forward

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  • Born: Quezon City, Philippines
  • Based: Chicago, IL, USA

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"Rockets Red Glare ..."

Kiam Marcelo Junio

2013 17 in. x 24 in. Material courtesy of Kiam Marcelo Junio from American Karaoke

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Kiam Marcelo Junio

b. 1984
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Kiam Marcelo Junio is a Chicago-based interdisciplinary artist working across media, from dance and performance to sculpture, installation, photography, and writing. Their research and art work center around queer identity, Philippine history and the Filipino diaspora, Western imperialism, and personal and collective healing through collaborative projects and individual self-work. Kiam served seven years in the US Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. Their work has been exhibited, screened, and performed throughout Chicago at Boyfriends, Defibrillator, Links Hall, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Bijou Theater, and the Field Museum, as well as in New York City, NY; Riverside, CA; Mexico City, Mexico; Cadiz, Spain; and Montreal, Canada. They were born in the Philippines and have lived in the US, Japan, and Spain.

The role of the artist, the magician, the prophet, and each individual, is to bring about change in the world through one's own personal transformations, revolutions, and revelations.

As an artist who is also a person of color, an Asian American, a Filipino immigrant, a US Navy veteran, gender-fluid, and decidedly queer, my work exists within these contexts but is not bound by them. I use a multidisciplinary approach in my research and art making. I develop a conceptual ecosystem in which my works function in myriad ways, informing one another. I create photos, installations, videos, and performances. I work collaboratively with local artists, dancers, musicians, and organizers. I foster relationships within my communities and relish in our blossoming. By working with others, we come to know and become more ourselves.

I look towards the future and feel its inertia - the momentum that propels us into infinite uncharted moments, carrying the past forward

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  • Born: Quezon City, Philippines
  • Based: Chicago, IL, USA

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"This Land Was Made for You and Me ..."

Kiam Marcelo Junio

2013 17 in. x 24 in. Material courtesy of Kiam Marcelo Junio From American Karaoke

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Kiam Marcelo Junio

b. 1984
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Kiam Marcelo Junio is a Chicago-based interdisciplinary artist working across media, from dance and performance to sculpture, installation, photography, and writing. Their research and art work center around queer identity, Philippine history and the Filipino diaspora, Western imperialism, and personal and collective healing through collaborative projects and individual self-work. Kiam served seven years in the US Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. Their work has been exhibited, screened, and performed throughout Chicago at Boyfriends, Defibrillator, Links Hall, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Bijou Theater, and the Field Museum, as well as in New York City, NY; Riverside, CA; Mexico City, Mexico; Cadiz, Spain; and Montreal, Canada. They were born in the Philippines and have lived in the US, Japan, and Spain.

The role of the artist, the magician, the prophet, and each individual, is to bring about change in the world through one's own personal transformations, revolutions, and revelations.

As an artist who is also a person of color, an Asian American, a Filipino immigrant, a US Navy veteran, gender-fluid, and decidedly queer, my work exists within these contexts but is not bound by them. I use a multidisciplinary approach in my research and art making. I develop a conceptual ecosystem in which my works function in myriad ways, informing one another. I create photos, installations, videos, and performances. I work collaboratively with local artists, dancers, musicians, and organizers. I foster relationships within my communities and relish in our blossoming. By working with others, we come to know and become more ourselves.

I look towards the future and feel its inertia - the momentum that propels us into infinite uncharted moments, carrying the past forward

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  • Born: Quezon City, Philippines
  • Based: Chicago, IL, USA

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Art Must Be Beautiful

Kiam Marcelo Junio

2013 Video of performance Duration: 1h 18m 19s Material courtesy of artist

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Kiam Marcelo Junio

b. 1984
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Kiam Marcelo Junio is a Chicago-based interdisciplinary artist working across media, from dance and performance to sculpture, installation, photography, and writing. Their research and art work center around queer identity, Philippine history and the Filipino diaspora, Western imperialism, and personal and collective healing through collaborative projects and individual self-work. Kiam served seven years in the US Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. Their work has been exhibited, screened, and performed throughout Chicago at Boyfriends, Defibrillator, Links Hall, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Bijou Theater, and the Field Museum, as well as in New York City, NY; Riverside, CA; Mexico City, Mexico; Cadiz, Spain; and Montreal, Canada. They were born in the Philippines and have lived in the US, Japan, and Spain.

The role of the artist, the magician, the prophet, and each individual, is to bring about change in the world through one's own personal transformations, revolutions, and revelations.

As an artist who is also a person of color, an Asian American, a Filipino immigrant, a US Navy veteran, gender-fluid, and decidedly queer, my work exists within these contexts but is not bound by them. I use a multidisciplinary approach in my research and art making. I develop a conceptual ecosystem in which my works function in myriad ways, informing one another. I create photos, installations, videos, and performances. I work collaboratively with local artists, dancers, musicians, and organizers. I foster relationships within my communities and relish in our blossoming. By working with others, we come to know and become more ourselves.

I look towards the future and feel its inertia - the momentum that propels us into infinite uncharted moments, carrying the past forward

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  • Born: Quezon City, Philippines
  • Based: Chicago, IL, USA

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Bloodmutha's Womb

Kat Larson

2011 Video & performance art Variable dimensions

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Kat Larson

b. 1979

Kat Larson is a Seattle-based cross-disciplinary artist. Her art practice includes printmaking, painting, small scale sculpture, performance and video. She is currently focusing on video and performative installations and exploring her body as a conduit for spiritual connections, specifically with her female ancestors whom she has tagged “BloodMuthas.” Outside of video and performance, she continues to work with striking found objects, clay, encaustics, and organic materials such as dead bees and dirt.

Photograph by Lindsay Borden.

My name is Kat Larson, and I am bi-racial woman practicing fine art in the Pacific Northwest. My current artistic focus is exploring the intersections of new media/digital technologies and performance art. Fueling my practice are the themes of identity and spirituality and investigations of collective consciousness. At the core of my artistic expressions is a reverence for human connectivities and transformations.

I envision the art that I produce affecting positively those who come into contact with my work, as it invites people to travel into the often dark corners of human experience that people dare travel to on their own. However unknown and frightening these spaces are, my work reaches out to viewers—asking them for their trust—and assuages their anxiety through meaningful interactions with questions, ideas, and concepts that are embedded in my work. My audience can feel the strength of my feminine powers. Though sometimes very raw in form and expressiveness, my work nonetheless provokes people to ask important questions about matriarchy, ancestry, sexuality, and life and death. These are topics that connect us as individuals and as part of the many communities in which we find ourselves. When we publicly engage in this type of discourse, we not only realize our connectivity but also transformative strategies for the betterment of humanity. In short, my work initiates critical and timely conversations about community.

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  • Born: Seattle, WA, USA
  • Based: Seattle, WA, USA

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Bodies, Letters, Catalogs: Filipinas in Transnational Space

Rolando B. Tolentino

1996 Criticism 27 pages. Courtesy of Duke University Press.

Social Text 14.3 (Fall 1996): 49-76.

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Rolando B. Tolentino

b. 1964
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Rolando B. Tolentino is Dean of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication and faculty of the University of the Philippines Film Institute.  He has taught at Osaka University and the National University of Singapore, has been a Distinguished Visitor at the University of California, Berkeley, and at the University of California, Los Angeles Southeast Asian Studies Consortium, and a recipient of the Obermann Summer Research Fellowship.  He is the author of National/Transnational: Subject Formation and Media in and on the Philippines (Ateneo University Press, 2001), and the editor of positions’ special issue “Vaginal Economy: Cinema and Sexuality in the Post-Marcos Post-Brocka Philippines” ( 2011), and Geopolitics of the Visible: Essays on Philippine Film Cultures (Ateneo University Press, 2002).  He is a member of the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino (Filipino Film Critics Group) and chairs the Congress of Teachers and Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND-UP).

Photograph by Piya Constantino.

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  • Born: Manila, Philippines
  • Based: Quezon City, Philippines

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Breakfast in Bed

Kenneth Tam

2016 HD video, color, sound, 32 minutes Installation view Courtesy of the artist

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Kenneth Tam

b. 1982

Kenneth Tam is an artist who uses sculpture and video to explore his interests, which include Abercrombie and Fitch, public restrooms, and the films of Tsai Ming-Liang. He recently had a solo show at Night Gallery in 2013, and he was a recipient of an Art Matters Grant the same year.

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  • Born: New York, NY, USA
  • Based: Los Angeles, CA, USA

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Breakfast in Bed

Kenneth Tam

2016 HD video, color, sound, 32 minutes Installation view Courtesy of the artist

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Kenneth Tam

b. 1982

Kenneth Tam is an artist who uses sculpture and video to explore his interests, which include Abercrombie and Fitch, public restrooms, and the films of Tsai Ming-Liang. He recently had a solo show at Night Gallery in 2013, and he was a recipient of an Art Matters Grant the same year.

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  • Born: New York, NY, USA
  • Based: Los Angeles, CA, USA

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Breakfast in Bed

Kenneth Tam

2016 HD video, color, sound, 32 minutes Installation view Courtesy of the artist

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Kenneth Tam

b. 1982

Kenneth Tam is an artist who uses sculpture and video to explore his interests, which include Abercrombie and Fitch, public restrooms, and the films of Tsai Ming-Liang. He recently had a solo show at Night Gallery in 2013, and he was a recipient of an Art Matters Grant the same year.

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  • Born: New York, NY, USA
  • Based: Los Angeles, CA, USA

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