Installation works from my group exhibition, “Bumuo”, Mass Gallery, Austin, Texas, 2024
ABOUT BUMUO
bumuô (Tagalog, v.): to put together
derived from the root word buo (adj.) which means “whole”
After enduring almost 400 years of colonization under Spain and subsequently the United States, what does being “whole” mean for a 7,600-island archipelago; a tenth of our people untethered from our land and scattered across the entire globe?
Through BUMUO: Rebuilding the Filipino Body, six artists come together and chart a path between the still-red scars of our history to honor our persistent resistance and envision a healed future as kapwa. This multimedia exhibit presents a progressive exploration of the truths we must amplify, the manipulations we must reject, and how the individual empowers the collective through new bodies of work from Filipino artists Himaya, Intel Lastierre, Joi Conti, Lee Paje, Ms Cashmere, and PJ Raval.
Supported in part by the City of Austin Economic Development Department, BUMUO: Rebuilding the Filipino Body is forth space productions’ inaugural arts project and serves as founder Regine Malibiran’s curatorial debut.
INSTALLATION DETAILS:
Unang Yugto ng Kolonisasyon Series, Installation size variable, 2024
Installation Elements:
Borders of Empire: The Treaty of Tordesillas and it’s Colonial Legacy, Oil and spices on linen, steel, synthetic hair, Installation size variable, 2024
Crossing Oceans in Chains: The Slave Trade and the Asiento de Negros, Air dry clay, steel, acrylic, Installation size variable, 2024
Mappin Enrique’s Journey, Oil and spices on linen, 12” x 64” x 1.5”, 2024
Headhunting and Heroism: Mageillan’s Death at Mactan, Cebu, Air dry clay, steel, acrylic, traditional wood arrows, wood, synthetic hair and teeth, Installation size variable, 2024
The Unang Yugto ng Kolonisasyon (First Stage of Colonization) Series examines the brutal beginnings of colonialism and its lasting effects on the Philippines and beyond.
In Borders of Empire, I explore the Treaty of Tordesillas’ legacy, using oil, spices, steel, and synthetic hair to symbolize the imposition of colonial borders. Crossing Oceans in Chains reflects the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade, while Mapping Enrique’s Journey as the first global circumnavigator. Headhunting and Heroism highlights the indigenous victory over Magellan at Mactan, capturing the resistance to colonial conquest.
Through this series, I examine the legacies of exploitation and the resilience of indigenous cultures.
