Worlds In Collision

PROJECT 3:  WRESTLING WITH THE PAST, DEALING WITH THE FUTURE
IN-CLASS: M 4/9, 4/16, M 4/23, 4/30, 5/7
CRIT/DUE: W 5/9

Post-colonialism (also known as post-colonial theory) refers to a set of theories in philosophy, film and literature that grapple with the legacy of colonial rule. As a literary theory or critical approach it deals with literature produced in countries that were once, or are now, colonies of other countries. It may also deal with literature written in or by citizens of colonizing countries that takes colonies or their peoples as its subject matter. Postcolonial theory became part of the critical toolbox in the 1970s, and many practitioners take Edward Said's book Orientalism to be the theory's founding work. Post-colonialism deals with many issues for societies that have undergone colonialism: the dilemmas of developing a national identity in the wake of colonial rule; the ways in which writers from colonized countries attempt to articulate and even celebrate their cultural identities and reclaim them from the colonizers; the ways knowledge of colonized people have served the interests of colonizers, and how knowledge of subordinate people is produced and used; and the ways in which the literature of the colonial powers is used to justify colonialism through the perpetuation of images of the colonized as inferior.

Colonized peoples responded to the colonial legacy by writing back to the center. This came about as indigenous peoples began to write their own histories, their own legacy, using the colonizers' language (usually English) for their own purposes. As post-colonialist theory has impacted communities of indigenous peoples it has produced a process of indigenous decolonization.As suggested by its name, postcolonialism is about dealing with the legacy of colonialism. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly the most prominent form this has taken to date has been in the cultural realm, especially with respect to identity politics and literary studies. Thus, the most common way the term has been used is in reference to a genre of writing and cultural politics, usually by the authors from the countries which were previously colonised. All postcolonialist theorists admit that colonialism continues to affect the former colonies after political independence.

This final project should demonstrate the culmination of what you have learned this semester in Worlds In Collision. In Project 3, I would like you to explicitly consider Filipino/Filipino-American history, as well as post-colonialism, transnationalism, and the creative strategies and philosophies of the artists in Overmapped, the artists you did your midterm papers on, as well as artists Ariel Erestingcol, Rosanna Brillantes, Eliza Barrios, Mike Arcega, and Lordy Rodriguez. How can creative production, your creative production, be a way of responding to history, “answering back”, answering/asking more questions, dealing with both the personal and political, and filling in the gaps?

We’ll discuss this project a bit in class, but you are expected to do research, and learn more about the terms and artists. Don’t feel any pressure to answer explicitly or didactically to all of the above considerations, but do be prepared to indicate how those ideas or influences have affected your thinking and art-making as an artist yourself.

Go back through the texts you’ve read for Wednesday’s section, review work by the artists online. It helps.

On Monday April 16, please be ready to work. Do not come empty-handed, or empty-idea’d. Email me prior to the 16th if you are struggling. Bring all the supplies you will need to work with to class for each remaining session. Consider the wide range of materials and media you’ve now seen: maybe you’ll work with traditional materials, maybe with unconventional found materials, with digital media, or any number of other things. Please choose materials/media that you know to be significant or relevant to your project. Consider some of the dialogue we had about work and materials during critiques for Projects 1 and 2.

This project has a total of 13 in-class hours, and an expectation of at least 7-8 outside-class hours. You are welcome to work more than this, of course.

Criteria for success on Project 3:
∑ Personal investment in theme and message
∑ Emotional/intellectual engagement with the subject/image
∑ Materials/media/execution appropriate to your project
∑ 4-5 weeks of effort and investment (20-21 hours minimum)
∑ complex investment in idea, theme and execution
∑ written reflection/artist statement

Clarification of some criteria:

Engagement and Investment:
Care and criticality are words to keep in mind, as a maker and a viewer. How do you care about this, and then how might you make us care, as well? What is the evidence of your critical/conceptual intent? Have you chosen an image/istory/theme that compels you? Have you genuinely engaged with the image? How is this evident in your completed work?

Materials/execution:
It doesn’t matter what style or materials you work with. What you choose to work with should reflect an advanced level of criticality and investment, however.To reiterate from previous projects, this is not about traditional technical skill. It is definitely about investigation, experimentation, and follow-through. Is the work complete, and as well-made as possible? Does it feel finished, and resolved? Have you challenged yourself to move beyond your personal comfort zone/skill-set, and take new risks?

Written Reflection:
Since this project is a bit more ambitious, it would be good to expand your writing a bit more. Your work may have heavy, or unfamiliar content, which a well-written reflection can accommodate. This writing still doesn’t have to be straightforward academic analysis. It can be poetry, short fiction, diaristic: whatever seems appropriate. It should supplement, but not supercede, your artwork. 2 pages, typed and double-spaced, preferably.

Curated by Worlds In Collision Professor Rico Reyes, Overmapped: A Cartography of Filipino American Visual Arts, opens this Thursday at SomArts Cultural Center. Worlds In Collision students are helping install this exhibition.

Vince Esteves

Miki Downes

Initially I had trouble narrowing down my personal history in to one conceptual idea. my first thought was to base the project around my family history. i created the smaller circles first visualizing some type of mobile. . . after sifting through pictures, journals and my junk drawers i gathered materials that i found symbolic or importamt to me. . . I have been dealing with a lot in my personal life recently. Not getting in to my personal turmoil, the mounted stress has had such a negative effect on me inside and out. The mirrors symbolize a reflection of the angst, anxiety and illogical worrying. I framed my piece with them to symbolize my struggle to recapture the inner peace I have lost within in myself. . . The logical side of me is able to understand what is important but is so easily distracted and possesed by the frustration that lurks around me. Inside the frame is a picture of myself on a transparency which overlaps a flood of colors that symbolize the rich content that makes me who I am. Connected to a print I made of a heart I have images of the people who are most important to me: my boyfriend, my best friends and my family. These are the people who have really enriched my life and helped to mold me in to the person that I am today. In essence, this project became for me a desperately needed self-reflection.

Carlo Tagal-Lachenal

Erick Perez

Filipino Art History
29 March 2007

Artist Statement: “Untitled”

    “Untitled” is a linoleum block representation of cross-cultural traditions hidden to main stream society but understood by those who have inherited the cultures of two or more different ethnicities. For this project, I wanted to bring together two well-known traditions and have them operate as one.

    This idea of cross-cultural traditions, what was inspired this art work, however, after the process of making this began, I was able to make more and more connections between the culture of Mexico and the culture of Northern San Diego, primarily a white inhabited community. It was not my intend to present myself as being of mixed blood, both Mexican and Caucasian, but of a Mexican-American who has been heavily impacted by the traditions of the white, high-middle class community.

The dialogue that these two groups create is what inspired me for this project and other projects. To better communicate my ideas, I used blended two different colors using a technique better known to linoleum block artist as “rainbow rolls.” These “rainbow rolls,” conceptually depicts the idea of two becoming one, and that one, being an unpredictable result of two colors that does not completely fit into either original color.

Jessica Ringer

LaTisha Jones

Philippine American Arts
March 25, 2007

This booklet is about my life. And it portrays my family and good friends who have played a major role in shaping the different stages of whom I have become.

I chose a cream cover for my book because my personality is very calm and serene by nature. The texture symbolizes the rough times I had to endure and the red ribbon represents my passion for life and the people who I love.

Chapter one covers my family. It all began with my mother and how she raised my siblings and me as a single parent. Watching my mother gave me the determination to pursue my goals in life. It is from her that I draw strength. The photo of my sisters represents our true friendship and our unchanging love. The last few photos symbolize the powerful men and foundation which influenced my spiritual growth in life. And finally, my father—while absent during the most critical time of my development, I love him and he is proud of who I have become. And if it weren’t for both my parents I would not be here.    

Chapter two speaks about my tough times in life and the people who inspired me to make it through. If it were not for God putting these individuals in my life, my life may have taken another direction. These were the growing years that shaped my life and made me who I am. I owe everything I have accomplished to the love of God.

The final chapter is about how I fell in love.  When I first met him I knew I would love him. The first picture is shaded from a rich orange to red, which characterizes how our friendship grew into love and formed an everlasting bond. The proposal consummated our friendship and moved our love to the next level. And finally, he guards and protects this love and I feel safe with him.

   

Charles Daulo

“I Am Not For Sale”

Pause for a moment and think about what I’m trying to say,
Listen to the words between the words that lie deep in the innermost of your mind and come to find
The story of a young boy who found a dollar bill and the red pill
And reality that it came with…

Sitting in the midst of my adolescences where I found and lost my innocence.
Pacing at a speed to which life blurs and images can no longer be seen.
Then stop.
Restart.
Reboot.
Then shoot out words to describe the words to make phrase upon tiny frays of cloth that has stuck to my body.
Omit any feelings that may cause pain and replace it with a checkbook.
Invoke the past in the future then revoke the maternal ideal with a paternal deal that makes my reality surreal.
I’ve done my best thinking while sitting
On the can taking a shit
I’ve done my best to never quit
No thanks to you, who found the quality of life with a dollar bill only to instill the notion that anything can be bought.
You, me and us, for days we fought
 Discovering that I was for sale, upon a land that was cold and pale
Thank you, my childhood, forever impaled
By what you taught dear mother
There are no vacancies here because your love is like a vacant sea.

Dear child you are young and do not know about life. But it was life that taught me all that I needed to know.
Now it’s too late, I’ve grown up to understand, tears have fallen like a cold bitter storm of hale
Life taught me…

I am not for sale!

Eliza Doeschl

Eliza Doeschl                                   
Fil-Am Arts

Reflection on Studio Project 2

    This is a painting of the San Francisco Bay with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. The San Francisco Bay leads out into the Pacific Ocean where on the other side of this ocean is the Philippines, where my mom’s entire side of the family lives. Despite the vast distance between the United States and the Philippines, we are still connected like a bridge, for example the Golden Gate Bridge, because the ocean touches both sides of these countries.

I painted this landscape because San Francisco has become my new second home because I live here during the school year in the dorms. I wanted to paint my Lola (grandmother), my mom, and I walking down the sand however, due to a lack of time I did not paint them. I plan to do so some time soon. I wanted to do this because my mom and I have always wanted to bring my Lola to the United States so she can see how we live and can vacation over here. However, now she is 93 years old and is very frail so it impossible for her to come here now. I love my Lola very much and I wish I knew her more because she is my last grandparent left alive. I only get to see her once a year and when I do see her, I cannot really talk to her because I do not really speak her dialect and she only speaks a little English. This painting, when finished, will be a tribute to my Lola.