Fragmented

February 2021

Fragmented is an examination of a detailed and intimate narrative of the past and the present time. Steeped in reflection, Fragmented embodies multiple layers that are purposed to process traumatic events. The active determination to accept and then resolve what once was, through the physicality of creating this body of work. 

Witnessing the insurrection at the Capitol, the trauma and the unrest arose from the experiences I had throughout my developmental years living in the Philippines during the coup d’etat in the time of 1986-1990.

The trauma from that experience is what led me to develop Fragmented. It reflects the progression of eras in my life that encompassed and dominated the need to hold on to the primal sense of survival. These eras instilled and modeled a feeling of uncertainty and apprehension. This carried through my young adult and continued on to my adult years. 

The sculpture that stands in the forefront represents my childhood years. The longing for parental supervision that was absent in my life left me vulnerable when my mother was in the States for two years. 

The center sculpture symbolizes the cultural shock and transition when I moved to the States in the course of my adolescent years. 

Finally, the sculpture in the background is a stripping and releasing of all that was. While stepping into a new season in my life. A season and the process of ungraspring. 

Originally, the projected photograph of the two women who looked after me during my mother’s absence, is a depiction of me as a toddler in the middle, apprehensively under their protection. Projected onto the sculptures, the melancholy indifference of the women are instead looming over the shadows that permanently left a mark in my history. Honoring my nannies who did their best to nurture and protect me.