Installation

August - December 2022

SAIC Galleries, Chicago, IL

I am a first generation South Asian Pacific Islander American of Filipina and Indian descent, a cisgender able-bodied woman, a US born citizen, the daughter of immigrants, a descendant of healers, a working mother to mixed race children, a feminist-activist, caregiver, mental health practitioner, educator, socially engaged artist, and scholar in terms not defined by a white, colonial, patriarchal, academic system, but by women storytellers, cultural weavers and social framers.

My work explores the visual, performative and culinary arts as acts of disruption, solidarity and care. I seek to create spaces in my community where art making and creative engagement are forms of healing and change. Spaces that exist in between and outside of the 'norm' and center non-dominant stories that are often silenced or go unheard.

The Story Table embodies the act of passing ancestral wisdom and traditions, healing practices, ritual customs and familial stories from generation to generation in an effort to preserve culture. Embedded in the table are personal artifacts that serve as an archive of my family history and a map of our immigrant journey. The creation of the table (constructed with the assistance of woodworker Ron Cramer) was a ritual in itself - choosing, placing, and encasing each object in a way that both unearths intimate accounts and honors lived experiences. The process of creating the piece involved the physical and psychological pain of grief and loss, a recognition of intergenerational resilience, a reclamation of power, and a catharsis that can only be met with love and hope. The woven pieces, sculptural items, and found objects presented with the Story Table offer touch points in the narrative that was created for this space.

The Story Table, which was introduced in summer 2022 as part of the Kitchen Table Stories exhibition, will travel from this current site to several locations throughout the city serving as a platform for engaging others to share stories that reveal and celebrate the many intersections of identity and human interconnectedness.