Alienated
This piece reflects the disconnect I feel from my Filipino culture as a first-generation immigrant raised solely in Canada. This piece is based on an old photo taken in my parent’s childhood home in the Philippines. My mother and cousin fit in with the earthy, natural browns of the piece, which is contrasted by my unnatural neon body and cartoonish outlines, symbolic of my odd Western upbringing. My family’s smiling while I’m caught in an awkward position, signifying how comfortable my family is in their culture, while I feel like an alien, on a planet far different from my own.
(If you look closely, you can see a 'butiki' (house gecko) diving out of the shadows of the rotating table piece to snap up a fallen grain of rice.)