Reconnection
August 15, 2020
Over the summer, I’ve been meeting with my friend Fahad at church once a week, and we try making different art projects. This week, the challenge we had was putting together a collage based on characters from a kid’s book with images from a fashion magazine. It was a fun project to try to creatively connect disparate ideas together into a somewhat cohesive composition. It many ways the collage is just kind of a random composition, but the process did generate a lot of different thoughts that I wanted to document here. Specifically, this idea of connecting what often seem to be disconnected realities was one of the main takeaways for me in making this collage. I used black sharpie and green thread to somewhat symbolically connect the cartoon reality with “real-life” reality - i.e. the woman. In the process, I reflected on how oftentimes it is the process of embracing the seemingly un-related and (e)strange(d) parts of who we are that yield the most creative and generative results.
Additionally, for me the thread not only represents connecting our disparate identities and imaginations; but it also serves as a visual representation of our past connections - with our histories and our ancestors and the struggles they faced. Specifically, as a Filipino American man, I am reminded that many of these struggles are related to issues of gender and (mis)understandings of care work. Having been able to spend time with Filipina domestic workers here in Hong Kong and learning about their struggles particularly in this time of pandemic, I have become more aware of the historical and contemporary struggles that contribute to the difficulties they face in their day to day life. This awareness has shaped my desire to find ways to stand in solidarity with them as well as with others who face similar struggles.
Though my awareness is growing, I also realize the many unchallenged biases and limited perspectives that have kept me from being more engaged in issues of injustice and inequality in the past. In this sense, I think the process of making art and reflecting on it as it relates to the social setting I am a part of is helping to expand my perspectives and see the ways I have ignored or isolated myself from the struggles of others. In this way, I hope this journey of creating art and reflecting on it with others can lead to greater community connection and acts of tangible solidarity.
