I make work informed by hybridity, history, calamity and global culture: it’s the intercultural creative logic of a Filipina-American raised in Hong Kong, the UAE, Malaysia, and California, as well as that of a longtime educator in a diverse range of communities. This intercultural logic demands interdisciplinary approaches, where drawing, performance, video, web and print often intersect and overlap. I’m rarely satisfied with a single outcome or discipline: it has to serve other functions, take other forms, spur longer conversations.
Regardless of approach, the constants in my work are imagination, humor, a crisp visual approach and a healthy appreciation for the absurd. The legibility of illustration and the appeal of popular culture motifs are frequent strategies: I often seek out a shorthand vernacular to ease my audience into potentially difficult, complex conversations.
Collaboration and camaraderie are integral parts of my practice: my projects often involve friends and strangers in all manner of creatively oddball situations. I do not consider myself an artist in isolation– studio solitude almost always expands into engagement with a broad range of voices often under-represented in the arts. My most satisfying projects all share this spirit of exchange, play, and cooperation: it makes things more relevant, and more fun, immediately.