As the American-born daughter of a Filipina who left her home country, this work is a conversation with my mother’s past to find the seeds of my being. It is the creation of a personal lexicon from which to understand my roots, and what it means to be of diaspora. It is a journey through ambiguity and longing, languages of color and texture, plants and spirits, traditions and superstitions. I am at once inside and outside, in proximity to and at a distance from. These photographs are altars to my ancestors’ consciousness.
Two | Dalawa
String Bean Hair | Sitaw na Buhok
Three Bittermelons | Tatlong Ampalaya
Correspondence | Sulat
You Must Follow | Dapat Mong Sundin
His Room | Ang Kuwarto Niya
My Family Still | Ang Pamilya Ko Pa Rin
Auntie Elsa | Tiya Elsa
Concrete | Kongkreto
Salt Bread | Pan de Sal
New Year | Bagong Taon
At the Old House | Sa Lumang Bahay
Grandma and Grandpa | Lola at Lolo
Outside | Sa Labas