What does it Mean to Be Free for the Filipino Today?
WORDS CRAFTED + ARTIST CURATION BY JY JIMMIE FLORA GABIOLA
KIM REQUESTO | KERR CIRILO | LANI ASUNCION | DJ GUARDIAN GUERILLA PUMP | BRYANT SINA | VEECAPS | BREA PARKS | TOHA | RAMON ABAD |
KIM REQUESTO | KERR CIRILO | LANI ASUNCION | DJ GUARDIAN GUERILLA PUMP | BRYANT SINA | VEECAPS | BREA PARKS | TOHA | RAMON ABAD |
✪ panaginp ng amerika / an american dream (2023) by Jy Jimmie Flora Gabiola
What does it Mean to Be Free?
Prior to the arrival of the Spanish in 1521, the group of islands we now call Philippines was home to many, diverse ethnolinguistic groups long before the Spanish-American war in 1898.
The history of the Philippines from 1898 to 1946 began with the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in April 1898, when the Philippines was still a colony of the Spanish East Indies, and concluded when the United States formally recognized the independence of the Republic of the Philippines on July 4, 1946
Independence Day Araw ng Kasarinlán; also known as Araw ng Kalayaan, "Day of Freedom") is an annual national holiday in the Philippines observed on June 12, commemorating the declaration of Philippine independence from Spain in 1898.[1]
With a ponderous history surrounding imperialism and colonization, the Filipino today has a challenging but rewarding journey ahead —unraveling personal and collective histories, interweaving experiences which make sense of our relationship to the Filipino culture and to one another while honoring our Ancestors.
125 years of decolonization and we’re paving a hopeful future of kapwa amongst the diasporas.
Spotlighting Artists throughout the diasporas on what their thoughts on Freedom for the Filipino today.
“How do you define freedom? In an effort to define and find freedom, I believe it is in the act of following our hearts and creating our futures that we are able to understand what freedom means to us. We are collectively learning to heal (whether we know it or not) from the intergenerational traumas we’ve inherited both politically and internally but freedom is being able to create your own dream and to be empowered to pave the way forward.
”
baibibyaonligkayanbikay by Kim Requesto
KIM REQUESTO
KIM REQUESTO (she/her) is a Philippine born, Mission District raised Cultural Worker and Interdisciplinary Artist based in unceded Ramaytush Ohlone Territory also recognized as San Francisco, California. With an artistic foundation in Philippine folk dance, Requesto has dedicated herself to cultural expression and advocacy through movement, photography, and community outreach. Requesto has been part of the Philippine Folk Dance community since 2005 and is currently with Parangal Dance as part of their Artistic Team. Requesto, a two time recipient of the San Francisco Artist Grant is the producing artist behind Pangalay Circle, a workshop series focused on providing accessible resources and creating in-person dance circles with hopes of connecting community members with seasoned practitioners who specialize in Pangalay dances and other related forms. To learn more please visit her website kimrequesto.com
“Freedom is a difficult word especially on a day like “Philippine Independence.” What does that mean when we consider nationhood as a colonial import? When the banner we rally under was an organizing demarcation at the service of empire? When the very root-word of our demonym comes from the name of a white monarch? Freedom is a way to think through our history and re-imagine our future. It is an invitation to ask the questions freedom from what and, perhaps more importantly, freedom to do what?
”
KERR CIRILO
Kerr Cirilo was born in the Philippines in 1996 and grew up in Hawaii. He studied Religion and Studio Art at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA and his Master's of Fine Arts in Photography at the Rhode Island School of Design. Their work is heavily invested in the mechanics of the identification photograph. They have also been questioning the meaning of America (and the Philippines) in their work both as subject and as imaginary. While the recurring subject depicts their figure and face, the images speak to larger systems of circulation, particularly that of bodies and people. Their work operates in the intimate spaces between image and empire. To learn more please visit his website kerrcirilo.net
“Freedom for the Filipino today is complex and multidimensional. Freedom is to wash away the traumas of our past knowing that it remains within our personal & collective histories, to cleanse our minds of previous beliefs passed down from a past heavy with colonization & imperialism. Freedom is the awareness that one has the ability to decolonize their mind. To be liberated, to think, move and breathe with a sense of gratitude and acknowledgement of those before us. Freedom is knowing that our ancestors are with us, rooting for us as we continue the work, and continue to trail blaze in our diasporas. Freedom is to be present with loved ones around you cherishing the little joys in life.
”
jy jimmie flora gabiola
Jy Jimmie Gabiola, born in Manila Philippines, is an artist living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area. His practice explores personal & collective narratives surrounding the echoes of immigration in relation to the Philippine Exodus – the mass migration of Filipinos within the last hundred years.
This curiosity anchors his investigation of the human condition & what it means to be seen in connection to ethnic identity in relation with America’s urban/natural landscapes with a clear focus towards the Filipino Future.
His photographic practice is informed by analog, alternative & digital processes. The underlying themes embodied in his personal work revolves around his perspective as a gay immigrant Filipino American by way of the Ilocano people of northwestern Luzon. Moving to America at a young age, he became a US Citizen through naturalization at 10 years old. With barely anything, he & his family navigated life and their struggles with the belief that if you get creative, resourceful and have a positive mental attitude -- anything is possible. Gabiola grew up as a military dependent. Having to relocate and move frequently allowed him to experience & be immersed in different cultures. Jy Jimmie studied at the California College of Arts with a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts Photography & Literature Minor. Gabiola is part of the inaugural cohort of the Brownthought Academy. To learn more please visit his website jimmieflora.com
“Being free means that I have the opportunity to tap into my personal calling. Being free means I am able to connect to my divine purpose without any restrictions. Being free means I have the freedom to pursue my own happiness through art. Being free is accessing my mind and producing art without any censorship. Being free means that I am capable of exploring the inner depths of my mind and express myself creatively without any self judgment. In retrospect, this found freedom was obtained through my experiences.
Reflecting back, I thank my Parents for jump-starting my pursuit of happiness in art. If it wasn’t for my parents’ immigration from the Philippines to America, I don’t think the art path would have unraveled for me. My parents dreams were to get themselves out of poverty in the Philippines and start an abundant life in America. With their sacrifices, their strength, their fearlessness to move to a new country, I was able to explore who I was on the Creative Path. The doors to the Art World started to open when my parents gave me a chance to discover who I was as they worked hard to maintain a family of five. My parents gave me the chance to crack open the seed to my personal calling.
With my parents providing a platform where I can connect to my creativity, I was fully supported to express my artistic side at school. Professors were able to instill confidence within myself to pursue art and the right professors have helped me explore my artistic freedom. Learning the fundamentals of art and applying it conceptually within my work, over the years, has allowed me to create work that is supported by constructive criticism through the eyes of my mentors and professors without any censorship.
Unlocking doors of creative freedom in my mind with the help of others, I find myself opening new doors of creative freedom from teaching kids. From my three years of teaching children art I was able to learn how to connect to my inner child and create without any self judgment, and let the marks run free on the canvas. Watching these kids be fearless, and be excited to create art, sparked within me, joy, happiness, and the freedom to explore my creative thoughts without self judgment.
I believe that It is through our past experiences that we find the strength to learn and liberate ourselves from anything. If it wasn’t for these past experiences I would not have found freedom to make art, let alone be an artist in this dimension.
”
bRYANT SINA
California College of the Arts Alumni, Bryant Sina, is a mixed media artist native to the Bay Area. Sina combines his portraits with symbolic imagery of his past and present life experiences, which includes teaching art to kids, hanging out with friends, exploring nature’s organic shapes, and his Mantra, “be happy.” His mantra is a constant reminder to himself to choose happiness and to be present in gratitude. Sharing his mantra through his third eye smiley face, Bryant’s “be happy” is also a reminder that people have the mental strength to choose happiness. Sewing all of his thoughts together through mixed media, Sina carefully places each memory as he develops a composition that is structurally supported with various mark makings. He is currently making work in Oakland, California. To learn more please listen to his podcast episode oddlyawesome.com
“Freedom has something I’ve always had a complex relationship with being a Filipinx-American growing up in both the United States South and overseas in Hawai’i and in Okinawa, Japan. It was clear that the liberties a person had was contingent on their relations ship to the United States and if they were supported in a way that gave them the freedom to live as they pleased or were obligated to serve and how that servitude dictated the ‘freedoms’ allotted them through policy and government rule.
”
LANI ASUNCION
Lani Asuncion (they/she/sa) is a Boston based interdisciplinary multimedia artist creating socially engaged art in both private and public spaces, independently and collaboratively. Their work weaves together a visual language guided by historical research, community engagement, and experimental performance connected to their identity as a queer multiracial Filipinx-American born in California and grew up in Appalachia South, Hawai'i, and Okinawa, Japan. Using ritualized performance, Asunción integrates transmedia storytelling through new media technologies to encourage conversations that facilitate healing and collective cultural empowerment in the face of cultural violence, oppression, and ancestral intergenerational trauma. To learn more please visit her website laniasuncion.com
“Kalayaan or Freedom means that we are liberated from the shackles of corruption and oppression. It looks like collective joy and supporting eachother in community through love and compassion. When I imagine freedom I imagine the things my ancestors had to fight and sacrifice in order for a happier life for their children. Freedom is being able to expressing our revolutionary spirit and challenging the status quo.
”
TOHA
Toha is a multimedia artist exploring the intersections of indigenous justice, electronic music, and digital art. Their work is inspired by both their Filipino and Native American heritage and often created as offerings to honor their ancestors. To learn more please visit his website beacons.ai/toha
“Freedom is the privilege to enjoy life without the burden of consequences. It is the fleeting moment of everything falling into place and the peace of mind I strive for.
”
VEECAPS
Vivian (Veecaps) is a visual artist, muralist, and UX designer based in the Bay Area. Her artwork entails a variety of vibrant and colorful portraits that blend with her upbringing with her cultural roots. When she's not in the studio, she designs user experiences and applies her creativity in visual aesthetics to digital products. To learn more please visit her website veecaps.com
“Freedom is such an interesting thing just ethnic studies speaking. I think to me it means I have a choice, to speak up and show out. The tricky part is about freedom is not all of us have choice or support from others. Freedom is acknowledging we all have choices and if others can’t speak up, we’ll help them in our own way.
”
BRÉANA PARKS
Breana Parks is a Afro-Filipinx Photographer born and raised in California. Started doing photography in 2014, studied at UCSD in Visual Arts, Media Emphasis in Photography, and minored in Ethnic Studies. Much of their work tackles social issues, identity, and history.
In my younger years, I used photography as a way to freeze time, to hold onto the memories of my family that would be missed or forgotten. Because of that I would become the historian of my family events and hold the archive of people we have lost in the library of my hard drives. In some ways photography has allowed me to process the world; to explore social issues and identity and connection to others. Throughout all my recent projects, I have explored how far I can push my photography to go beyond printed paper--to see how I can display the images in new ways that are more fluid. Fabrics are always incorporated from movement, texture, and displays in three of my recent works.
Growing up as a biracial Black person, I have always been searching for ways to connect whether to myself, to others, to understand these were the driving forces for me to create. Photography was always interwoven into my discoveries of self. At University of California, San Diego, I never wanted to be put into a box in terms of picking my identity or conforming to the artist my professors wanted me to be. As I did that, I was able to be more vocal about things in my classrooms that bothered me such as being the only Black person in a predominantly white arts program. This was shown in my piece called 1 in 3, that looked at the statistic of 1 in 3 Black men going to jail and the media’s perception of them. Fast forward to summer of 2020, I started a project called Waves that focuses on showing the Black male body in feminine ways while highlighting the Black body in relation to water. From my background in Ethnic studies, I tend to research every element and historical component that goes into my pieces.
Two projects I developed in 2021 are called Illusions of innocence, and Many moons. Illusions of innocence is a photo series that explores the perceived notions projected onto Black youth that forces them to grow up by the age of 10 thus stripping them of their innocence. The first images of the series are the stereotypes often put on the shoulders of Black youth. Juxtaposed is the second image which portrays the genuine euphoria of youth. The photographs are printed onto silks to act as a veil that some outside the community wouldn’t see. Many Moons is a collection of photographs and textiles of the female lineage in my family that will be turned into a quilted piece. This quilted piece looks at how the trauma a woman holds is passed down from their mother mothers linking them together. In addition to this quilted piece, there will be photographs of the female figures within 3 generations with the quilt.
Photography has become a vessel and challenge for me to transform how we view photographs. The common thread to photography is that history and stories are the things that link how we interpret work. My hope for my work is to be able to learn more about history and people through it, and along the way find myself more. And maybe someone would find themselves in it too. To learn more please visit her website breanajanae.com
“True freedom is the ability to live your life without fear. Being unable to secure affordable housing, reliable healthcare, healthy food sources and societal support can force people to make choices out of desperation. Saw on a sign in the TL years ago that read that has always stuck with me: “Peace is when all the hungry are fed!” True dat!
”
RAMON ABAD
Ramon Abad (he/his) is a Filipino American puppeteer, artist, and teacher based in San Francisco, unceded Ramaytush Ohlone land. Since the mid 90s to present day he has performed solo puppet shows at Bay Area Filipino American festivals. His current puppet booth project “Tito Ramon’s Pop-Up Puppet Show” was the first puppet show performed at Kapwa Gardens in 2021. Since ‘21, he has been one of the resident artists at Balay Kreative Studio in SOMA Pilipinas.
From 1995 to the early 2000s, he was a company member, puppeteer and designer with Larry Reed’s ShadowLight Productions on shows that have toured throughout the USA and UK. He was a puppeteer in “Wayang Listrik” which played at the Public Theater NYC and venues throughout the East Coast as part of the Jim Henson International Puppetry Festival 1997.
As a member of tongue in A mood, the premier Filipino American sketch comedy troupe based in Bindlestiff Studio, Ramon performed on countless skits in productions from 1996 to 2001. He wrote, directed and made puppets for adult comedy pieces that involved shadow puppetry and hand puppets. Sponsored by a CA Arts Council Youth Arts Grant 2019, Ramon directed a collaboration with Bindlestiff and the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center (APICC) on “Rosalyn Learns How to Misbehave” 2020. Initially designed for an indoor stage, the show was adapted to be performed online due to COVID-19 restrictions and became the first Zoom puppet show for children in the Bay Area. Commissioned by APICC, while stay-at-home orders were still in effect, he directed a group of young playwrights to write and perform short puppets stories on the live Zoom show “Tito Ramon’s Incredibly Silly Puppet Show” 2021.
Funded by a San Francisco Arts Commission Individual Artist Grant 2020-2021, Ramon wrote and directed “The Party” a puppet video short that celebrates the history of the Filipino American mobile DJ culture of the Bay Area in the 90s. The video premiered on a live, family-friendly Zoom show in June 2021 where Ramon performed puppet skits and led a puppet-making workshop.
With a grant from APICC, he directed a team of designers, musicians and puppeteers in the in-person, children’s theater production “Pickles! The Bindlestiff Kid Show” that premiered November 2022. He commissioned three young kids to write the stories and headed a hybrid cast of adults and children to work together as puppeteers and musicians. The show was one of the first post-pandemic productions for children and families performed live, on-stage in South of Market San Francisco.
Ramon is currently working on a solo art installation funded by a Visual Arts grant 2022-2023 from the San Francisco Arts Commission. “Mabuhay, Friend!” will premiere in Fall 2023 at the gallery of the San Francisco Arts Education Project at the Minnesota Street Project. The exhibition will be a series of kinetic sculptures designed as puppets that visitors will be encouraged to interact with. To learn more please read his Balay Kreative Resident Artist feature
“Freedom On My Head, My Halo, My Spiritual Crown
Freedom Is A Tear, Let Go, Release, Breakdown
Freedom Saw Designer In The Lost In Found
Freedoms How U Act When No One Else Around
Freedom Is The Coming Uppin When U Hit Rock Bottom
Freedom On My Birthday, Scorpio Season, Early Autumn
Freedom Lookin thru The Mirror “Dang Foo U Is Fiiiione”
Freedom When I Dj Make U Twerk & Break Yo Spine
Freedom In The Vibes Of My Voice, My Songs, My Screams
Freedom In My Determination To Manifest My Dreams
Freedom Is The Path I Carve, In Every Corner Haters Lurk In
Freedom In My Pumps, My Strut, Holes In Ur Shade, I’m Smirkin
Freedom Is Inevitable My Destiny Is Written
Freedom Is The Fight I Chose We Winnin Never Quittin
Freedom In My Spirit In My Blood My DNA
Freedom For My People - The Dolls, The G’s, The Gays ”
DJ GUARDIAN GUERILLA PUMP
DJ Guardian Guerrilla Pump aka Sailor G is 1st Gen Afro/Filipino Award Winning DJ and Community Organizer rooted in the East Bay’s Underground Scene. He is Bay Area Father of the iconic global Trans DJ collective New World Dysorder, and a founding member of We Are The Ones Weve Been Waiting For, a DJ crew known for their mutual aid initiatives building power & safety with communities targeted by state sanctioned violence. From the renegade to the club, Guerrilla Pump ignites the dance floor with a powerful street-laced sound fusing old school and underground genre’s including Ghetto House, Electro, Bass, Freestyle, Funk Antigo, and Ballroom (vogue). His style mixes hypnotizing harmonies of love and passion with hyped up rhythms and urban booty-bumpin beats, creating unforgettable experiences filed with excitement, empowerment and pride. DJ Guardian Guerrilla Pumps is a true Champion of Love & Unity. His deep love for music is a transformative force, organizing with community to create brave and inclusive sanctuary on the dance floor and mobilizing movement beyond the turntables - in-sync with The Rhythms of Revolution making the desire for change, action and creative resistance irresistible. To learn more please visit his website, Guerrilla Pump