PALENGKE / PUBLIC MARKET
2018
Soft Sculpture, Installation, Performance
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Palengke / Wet Market (2018)
FilAm Fest, Chula Vista, CA
This project was made possible with support from the Filipino-American Arts and Culture Festival, committed to representing the diversity of Philippine cultures from both established and emerging artists in traditional and contemporary arts.
Visit http://www.filamfest.us
A social engagement project that engages the Filipino American community in sharing memories and stories about the Philippines. This installation is filled with plush toys the resemble the different seafoods sold at the the wet market in my Grandmothers hometown market. The Binnakayan Market, called palengke in Tagalog, is a common market that residents of the Philippines go to for their produce and seafood. Visitors of the market purchase daily goods with soft sculptures of Bangus (milkfish), the Philippines national fish, Tahong (mussels) a staple in Sineguelasan where her Lola lives, and more.
This collection of work encourages the Filipino community to revisit their own memories of the Philippines, childhood and family origin. My artwork is about holding on to the memory and history that shapes my Filipino identity. When I visit my Grandmother, in Bacoor, Cavite, we walk through the streets of the local Binakayan public market. Together we purchase daily goods and visit the wet market to buy seafood. This is a memory that I dream of often as a resident of San Diego. The reproduction of these goods, for a moment, take me back to a time and place where I wish I could be. These soft sculptures confort and console my longing for the Philippines and the distance that we face everyday. My goal with this project is to encourage the Filipino community to revisit their own memories of the Philippines, childhood and family origin.
