Imagined Ricefields (2023)
acrylic on canvas, 60 x 120 in
Imagined Ricefields is an imagined map of a rural farming village I’ve drawn based on memory. It’s about my severed personal history as a migrant and the struggle of finding home and belonging away from my native country. Installed in cold and snowy landscapes, I show the dislocation I felt moving to different part of the world.
Installed in a tree that’s falling over, it represents my disconnection with the land particularly with the flora. It’s a reminder of the typhoon that felled the century old mango trees that destroyed my grandmother's ancestral house, right before I left the Philippines.
Installed in a bridge, it represents the struggle to connect the distance between my native country and my new county. My son Renard, who was only two years old during our move to Canada, is holding on to the painting in the photograph.
Installed in a chair in a life drawing platform, it represents my struggle to find belonging as artist.
