If you made it this far, thank you for checking out my blog! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.

Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram, or subscribe to my YouTube channel for updates on my blog posts.

If you made it this far, thank you for checking out my blog! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.

Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram, or subscribe to my YouTube channel for updates on my blog posts.

If you made it this far, thank you for checking out my blog! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.

Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram, or subscribe to my YouTube channel for updates on my blog posts.

Played around with a Fractal prism filter for these 2 photos. :)

All photos up until here were photographed with only the speed light.

These 2 photos used both a portable strobe, synced with my speed light via "optical slave" (hate that word, but there hasn't been another industry term made to replace it yet 😕). Wanted to continue using the speed light to create more fill, but with the direct sunlight shining right on it, it had a mind of its own & the sensor that is supposed to detect the flash coming from the strobe just kept going off randomly, or wouldn't go off when I needed it to! I managed to get these 2 shots, but decided to put the speed light away after this. I'll have to research & see about a radio trigger for it next time, but I do know that the trigger that comes with the speed light can sync with multiple units at once via bluetooth. I might have to invest in a second speed light!

​All compositions below are photographed using only the portable strobe.

Rare photo of myself on the left, haha! The assignment required us to also make self-portraits, but I am just not a selfie kind of gal. However, I was comfortable at least getting in front of the camera for one shot if I was with my friend, & we actually really had fun with it! I also played around with a few other compositions, such as shooting through objects, as well as playing with the "freeze" mode on the strobe again to create the blurry effect of the flower petals dropping in the frame. I also got to practice my compositing skills with that one. ​🤠

This photos came out even better than I envisioned, with some of my classmates describing them as a "vibrant fairytale" & giving "Studio Ghibli vibes" — both compliments to the highest degree. ​🥹

If it weren't for time constraints & our energy running low, there's a lot more I would have tried or changed. But for something photographed over 2 days & the amount of compositions I was able to create, I'm still soooooo happy with the results. Somehow I managed to make my friend look like such a movie star! 🤩

​To view the rest of the work I've made during my time at GCC, please visit the tag:

This was for the first assignment for the class! The assignment was really to practice & pay attention to soft vs. hard light & color theory. Since I'm still new at adding lighting to my work, this was a great exercise to start off with! And it was a great way to have me start thinking about how to use color more intentionally in my work.

This assignment was very challenging & it took me all day to troubleshoot because my set had so many items & I decided to make my life harder & choose reflective objects. ​🥴 We practiced some product photography, but we particularly had to incorporate using the "freeze" mode on the Profoto packs to freeze liquid movement in the frame. As challenging as I made this assignment for myself, it was so fun & I was so happy with the results. 

​To view the rest of the work I've made during my time at GCC, please visit the tag:

I'm thrilled to share Mata's newest online exhibition, PIECES OF PINDANGAN.

In spring of 2025, I was invited to participate in Alfredo F. Tadiar Library's Balay da Judge artist residency program. During my month-long residency, I photographed various streets & locations throughout the City of San Fernando, La Union, originally known as Pindangan. The work specifically traces back to the former barangays (neighborhoods) my parents lived in together, quietly observing communities they once frequented before immigrating overseas.

As part of my residency, my community engagement event included an artist talk at Puón Books, followed by a lesson on photography basics, and a photo walk. The photo walk led participants to historic landmarks near the bookshop, as well as landmarks personal to me, stopping by former streets and homes my parents once lived in together.

The online exhibition shares photos submitted by the participants, which were created during the workshop or independently. This work became extra meaningful for us, as a typhoon recently made its way through La Union and the Northern Philippines in the summer of 2025, damaging many of the streets we walked through and the sites photographed in this project. It's moments like these that we, as photographers, know we've done our jobs — documenting and memorializing our continually changing communities.

Be sure to check out the online exhibition from your computers for the full experience!

To view my main residency project only, which consists of my Cebu research & main photo documentary essay, that work is tagged under:

I am really excited to finally finish this project, because it's taken me over a year to do so! After reviewing all of the work, I hadn't realised how busy I actually was. It was a struggle to finish sooner due to more unexpected, drawn-out health issues last year after I came home from the Philippines. But now that I've finally had time to sit with the work, it felt like the right time to revisit & push myself to finish.

I haven't got much else to say other thank how thankful I am for this experience — a truly educational, healing, spiritual & transcendental experience in so many ways. And I am so, so thankful for all the people who supported me along the way, whether it was making a direct investment into the work itself, helping me secure housing, or even just meeting up to connect, spend time together, talk art & life. Altogether, it made for a deeply insightful experience.

These last few photos aren't really related to the work at all — yes & no. They were just a few misc photos I found on my camera roll from misc excursions. I recommend clicking on them to enlarge!
​
At the end of every day, even though I could have stayed late & gone on all night like I used to at my studio during my college days, I always made a point to leave the studio before dark. Every day, I left the studio in the Dogpatch district around sunset for a bike ride along the bay into Union Square. While it wasn't part of the art-making, per se, it was a way for me to clear my mind, unwind from the day & mentally prepare for the next day. The top-left photo was just from one of those days when I happened to stop & take a photo.

The right & bottom left photos are from misc walks from Union Square to my sublet in Nob Hill. Every day, I tried to take a different route to see if I saw something cool along the way. Revisiting the neon signage of the "Love These Flowers" was like visually giving flowers to myself for finally finishing this project. And the bottom right photo was something that just quickly caught my eye on a walk home one day. Hendrix's Axis: Bold as Love​, a skate deck & misc tagging. Thinking of the last song on the album as I finish this series. Thanks for reading this far. :)

Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram, subscribe to my YouTube channel, or subscribe to my newsletter for updates on my blog posts, projects, or upcoming programs.

Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.

It was Sunday, February 2, 2025. The rain was making its way through San Francisco & I had a ticket to the Asian Art Museum's free admission day. The rain was coming down & I remember being on the phone with my partner in the morning, asking him if I should still go, because it was raining & I wanted to be cozy. 😅 He encouraged me to go, because I may never get another chance to experience this again. I got dressed & had a short bike ride over to the museum from my sublet in Nob Hill. 

I was hoping that even though it was the free admission day, that not many people would be there because it was raining. I was sadly mistaken, haha! It was a bit too crowded for my taste, too noisy, I had a hard time navigating the galleries, some of the galleries were closed for installation, & from what I did get to see, I wasn't really impressed with the exhibitions.

However, the main thing I wanted to experience at the museum was the lion dance performance. Having experienced my first lion dance performance just the year prior, I wanted to relive that electrifying feeling again. 

While the program was sadly so unorganized, the performance itself was so much fun to experience. At this time, having just left LA for this residency as the fires were erupting, I wanted to bring back some good fortune and cast off any lingering bad energy before returning to LA.

🐍 I hope everyone is feeling the energy of rebirth and renewal as we all finish shedding our skin from the year of the wood snake. Now, as we enter the year of the fire horse, I wish everyone a happy Chinese New Year, Tết, and Seollal!

Fun fact: I was born in the year of the horse (in the 1900s)! The horse is known for being strong, independent & anti-authoritarian by nature. May we all channel our big fire horse energy this year as we dream of a future where authority & hierarchies no longer exist. ❤️‍🔥🐎

Shout out LionDanceME for their high-energy performance! Here's some photos of their performance from last year.

Photographs were created with my Nikon ZF & a 24-70mm lens.

Click any image below to enlarge.

My month in San Francisco for my ARROZidency was surrounded by art and creatives. I felt/feel incredibly fortunate & grateful for the experience, because I got to meet so many artists, as well as reconnect with artists & friends I hadn't seen in real life for a number of years. It was amazing to feel like I was immersed in a community of creatives again, & also have access to art everywhere. From my residency studio, its facilities & all the people who work there, to the galleries just across the street, to even the temp sublet I was renting in Nob Hill.

Of course, while spending my time getting creative & connecting with other artists, I also got to experience some exhibitions & soak up some inspiration that way. Here's a few shows I got to check out in-person!

​Photographs were created with my Nikon ZF & a 24-70mm lens.

Click any image below to enlarge.

My residency host invited me, another artist at the studio (who was also a former AIR) & his spouse to check out the last few days of Spirit House at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University. You can check out a virtual tour of the program on their website. I appreciate that some institutions & arts spaces still offer this accessibility option for the many reasons some cannot make it to art exhibitions in-person. I also did not photograph every single work, just a few of my favorites. So definitely head over to their website to view the full exhibition of works & to learn more!

The artwork themselves were phenomenal, the collection was a great choice, & the placement of everything was very thoughtful. I have no notes or edits on the layout, selection, or the artwork at all. I just have a lot to say about exhibitions like these. However, I'm not an art critic, so I'm saving that discourse for real life conversations. If you know me, you already know how I feel about it. ;)
​

Stephanie H. Shih
Offering (Ash Tower), 2023
ceramic and steel
​
​

Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya
What Remains, 2024
​rice boxes, paint, rice, rebar, wood, cast hands, beads, thread, rope, wire, and textile

​

right:
Cathy Lu
Banana Tree, 2023
ceramic and joss sticks

left:
Reagan Louie
Window, San Francisco, Chinatown, 2005
archival pigment print
edition 2 of 5

I might be biased, because I love photography (obviously) & didn't see a lot of of it in the exhibition, but Louie's photo was probably my favorite piece in the show. Not necessarily because it was a photograph, but the simplicity of a still life photo down to the smaller scale of the piece compared to the (sometimes) overwhelming size of everything else managed to say a lot. Sometimes less is more, & this piece truly embodied that for me. This was a peak into someone's world, something that was relatable for me in just this one small photo. I'm not Chinese, but it's something about the clutter and maximalism of a small space that speaks to the universal experience of growing up in a small immigrant household.

​

Nina Molloy
Shrine, 2021–2022
oil on canvas

​

Tuan Andrew Nguyen
Nothing Is Ever Lost, Nothing Ever Gained, 2022
brass from artillery shells, mounted on black stainless steel

Nothing Ever Dies, 2022
singing bowl pounded from 122 mm brass artillery shell, tuned to note G at 410 Hz

Dinh Q. Lê
​Cambodia Reamker #29, 2022
​Epson inkjet print on Epson double-weight matte paper, acid-free double-sided tape, and PH-neutral linen book tape

Maia Cruz Palileo
Big Lolo, Little Lolo, 2021
wood, milk paint, table

Korakrit Arunanondchai
Shore of Security, 2022
repurposed wooden dollhouse made by the artist's mother, wood, house paint polyurethane, fabric sculpture, ceramics snake skeleton, and LED lights

​

I don't think these tapestries were technically part of the exhibition? There seems to be no clickable description about them in the virtual tour — so, unsure!

​

Friend & residency co-host Malou with her baby girl, Habibi!

Oscar yi Hou
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, aka: Bushwick Bleeding Hearts Club, 2022
oil and gouache on canvas

I got to check out Cian Dayrit's solo exhibition Liberties Were Taken at Root Division during SF Art Week, a week-long celebrations of San Francisco's art scene that takes place across multiple galleries and creative spaces. I attended a curator-led walkthrough of the exhibition that was very informative, & the curator was a very professional presenter, making it was clear they did a lot of research and studying for this exhibition. Also got to meet a rad fellow photographer, Hunter, who works at the gallery & took this photo of me in action, haha!

Here were some of my fav pieces from the show. While I did enjoy the Spirit House exhibition a lot, I have to say I liked this one more. And not because the artist is Filipino, but I appreciate smaller community art spaces like these more over large institutions.

Last but not least, I got to check out Dark Matter presented by The Space Program at Minnesota Street Project for SF Art Week, one of the main events of the week.

I was very lucky to have been located so close to this event, with the studios being just across the street. One of the artists at the studio whom I'd gotten to know over the month also had work part of this program. I also learnt this night, that the owner of Re.riddle (one of the gallery spaces at Minnesota Street Project) was also the curator of the exhibition I got to see at Edge on the Square! It was really amazing in the end how all my experiences connected with each other.

Below are a few of my fav pieces from Dark Matter, but here is a full list of works if you'd like you see what else was shown. Some of the work below was not part of the Dark Matter​ program, but from exhibitions at one of the galleries that were open during the opening night — so make sure to check out that image list for accuracy!

Ben Venom
Night Flyers, 2024
hand-made quilt with fabric
39” x 51”

​

left:
​Richard Colman 
Untitled (Aluminum Leaf), 2024
20” x 23”
silkscreen, acrylic and aluminum leaf on paper

right: 
Untitled (Gold Leaf), 2024
20” x 23”
silkscreen, acrylic and gold leaf on paper

​

left:
Oliver Hawk Holden
Watermelon inflatable in solidarity with Palestine, 2023
Ripstop nylon, HVAC fan, plywood, and sheet metal 
8' x 8' x 16'

​top right:
Jay Howell 
22” x 24”
Untitled, 2024
​5 color silkscreen

​bottom right painting: 
Yarrow Slaps
Castles burn and new grounds rise, 2024
12" x 12"
acrylic on canvas

bottom right sculptures:
Yarrow Slaps
Star Lady Plant Head and King Bruh Bruh w the glasses, 2024
ceramic

​

Gianluca Franzese
Arteries of the Earth, 2024 
aluminum leaf, silver leaf, copper leaf, 12k white gold leaf, 18k and 22k gold leaf with acrylic glazes on panel
48 x 60.75"

​

​Mildred Howard's Bottle Houses at Anglim/Trimble.

​

Works from Rena Bransten Gallery's Summoning group exhibition.

left: 
Lava Thomas
I Walk in the Light of My Ancestors' Prayers, 2024
altered tambourines, acrylic marker on metallic leather, mirrored acrylic disks, grosgrain ribbon
59.5" x 115.25" x 2"

​right:
​Viviana Paredes
Everywhere / nowhere, 2018
cast glass, ceramic beads, steel plate
sculpture: 6" x 13" x 10"
steel plate: 15" x 13" x 0.25"

A place I really wanted to visit during my time in the Bay was the San Francisco Mission, which I had just learnt was actually split into 2 different structures, including the Mission San Francicso de Asis & then Mission Dolores.

For anyone new here, I'm not religious, Catholic or Christian. However, I am interested in the history of the California Missions, because I'm interested in the parallels between the Natives of so-called California & the Natives of the so-called Philippines.

Strange, but one of my life goals is to someday visit all 21 California Missions. I've only visited 4. ​😅

Anyways, as someone part of the Ilokano/Filipino-Californian diaspora, I'm interested in the parallels between our histories because we share the same colonisers — Spain & the so-called United States of America — with both still having a traumatic chokehold on our cultures. Whenever I visit a church in the Philippines, my first thought is, "This feels like I'm in California." And when I visit a church in California, I find myself thinking the reverse: "I feel like I'm in the Philippines." It's these feelings that lead me to believe that the Californian diasporic experience is particularly unique among Filipinos.

[ For some quick comparisons, check out my more recent photos of the church in San Juan, La Union, where my father was baptised in the 1930s & where we had his mass before his internment; the Namacpacan church in Luna, La Union; & the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu, where I started my research for this residency. ]

​The Mission in San Francisco is the oldest structure in the city & it also houses the oldest & only cemetery within the city limits. This was particularly interesting for me, because while I haven't been to many CA Missions yet, this is the only one I've been to (so far?) with a cemetery. I'll share more history on the cemetery below.

Starting with some exterior views of the Mission San Francisco de Asis, moving into the interior, to the cemetery, and to the interior of the Mission Dolores Basilica.

​Photographs were created with my Nikon ZF & a 24-70mm lens.

Click any image below to enlarge.

St. Joseph's Altar (1810). Anonymous. wood, gold leaf, oil paint.
Left to right: St. John of Capistrano, Saint Joseph, St. Bonaventure.

St. Anthony's Altar ​(1810). Anonymous. wood, gold leaf, oil paint.
​Left to right: St. Pascual of Baylón, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Francis of Solano.

Reredos, Main Altar (1797). Anonymous. wood, gold leaf, oil paint.

According to church signage:

The reredos was crafted in Mexico and brought to the mission in 1797.

Clockwise from top left: St. Francis of Assisi in ecstasy. St. Joachim, father of Mary. St. Michael the Archangel. St. Clare of Assisi, founder of the order known as the Poor Clares. St. Francis of Assisi with the stigmata. St. Anne, mother of Mary. Crucifix. Mary under the title of the Immaculate Conception. Tabernacle.

After a quick search, I learnt that a reredos is a type of altarpiece.

According to Britannica:

altarpiece, work of art that decorates the space above and behind the altar in a Christian church. Painting, relief, and sculpture in the round have all been used in altarpieces, either alone or in combination. These artworks usually depict holy personages, saints, and biblical subjects.

Several technical terms are associated with altarpieces. The predella is a low, decorated strip intended to raise the main part of the altarpiece to a height where it is readily visible from a distance. A diptych is an altarpiece consisting of two painted panels, a triptych has three panels, and a polyptych has four or more panels. A winged altarpiece is one equipped with movable wings that can be opened or closed over a fixed central part, thereby allowing various representations to be exposed to view. The term reredos is used for an ornamental screen or partition that is not directly attached to the altar table but is affixed to the wall behind it. The term retable simply refers to any ornamental panel behind an altar.

Ceiling.

Pictured right is the Mission museum, which houses a fair amount of Native crafts & artifacts from the Ohlone people. To be honest, I didn't want to take photos of any of it. ​😕

Ceramic mosaic mural by San Francisco artist, Guillermo Granizo (1923-1996). According to Granizo, "In the garden of the mission is a mural of the Spanish Ship "San Carlos" that was sent by the Spaniards to the Pueblo San Francisco to sponsor and colonize the area."

For centuries, the Native Raymatush Ohlone inhabited the peninsula. Near the Mission was once the Chutchui village, where Franciscan monks later decided to build the Mission.

While the church interiors were interesting to me, I was particularly drawn to the cemetery because it was my first time seeing one at one of the CA Missions. And it wasn't just interesting to me because I love gothic aesthetics! It actually has a disturbing & dark history (no pun intended).

Interred at this cemetery are around 5,000 Native Ohlone people. Sources say that they supposedly died due to bad weather & diseases brought from Europe. Somehow, I have a feeling the "bad weather" reason is a crock of shit. We all know by now that genocide of Native people via disease & illnesses is nothing new, especially now as we are witnessing the genocide of the Palestinian people, whom the Israeli government has blocked from receiving life-saving COVID-19 vaccines.

​There's also no way I counted 5,000 headstones at this cemetery, so they were likely buried together in an unmarked mass grave. Like all the other CA Missions, this one was no different. It was built by the forced labor of CA Natives, who were called "Indios" & violently forced to convert to Catholicism & adopt a Spanish name — just like the Natives of the so-called Philippines. 

Statue of St. Francis of Assisi.

I hope one day this statue of Junipero Serra is toppled, too. ​😤

Also at this cemetery is a statue of Kateri Tekakwitha, who apparently was a Native Mohawk woman from New York who converted to Catholicism & later became a saint. Beneath her statue reads "In prayerful memory of our faithful Indians." Some believe she was placed in the cemetery to ease animosity between the Natives & the Mission, & to serve as a marker for those unnamed.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find who this statue is of. 😅 If you happen to know, please feel free to drop a comment! I did love the juxtaposition of the statue with the green & the orange cone, so I decided to keep these in color.

While the Mission San Francisco de Asis was founded in 1776 (technically JUST before the United States was established as a country!), the Mission Dolores Basilica was built 100 years after in 1876.

I don't know what more to say about this basilica, other than the fact that it reminds me of churches in the Philippines. ​😅 This was the last space I visited at the Mission site. I didn't get any photos of the ceiling mural, but make sure to look up if you visit. While the small Mission church certainly had its own charm, the basically was epic in comparison.

​Prior to arriving in San Francisco, I was notified that we would be having a studio visit from a curator at the Asian Art Museum, just a few days after I settled into the studio. It was a bit stressful to prepare some work to present in advance! However, it was also exciting and satisfying. As a residency participant, I was happy I received the full experience that was advertised: the opportunity to connect with curators & other artists.

Of course, I could have gone simple & just made a few prints or brought in some older work, but I like making my life more difficult. 🥴 That also wouldn't have really resembled my aesthetic, & I wanted to present something closer to the type of work that I actually make.

By now, most people know that my work is mainly lens-based, but in the last decade I've been thinking a lot about grief & offerings to the metaphysical & what this can look like — so, like I've done in the past, I wanted the two practices to meet. A friend pointed out recently that I use a lot of red in my work, & I haven't been able to stop thinking about it ever since. For this installation, I wanted to stick to a color palette of red, gold & black as closely as possible, similar to the riso prints I made for this project.

And although it may seem like hoarding, I promise there's a method to my madness & a reason why I collect so much ephemera on any trips I take, & it's because I know they'll be used again for an installation at some point or repurposed in some way. The installation was untitled, but it combined my newer photography with ephemera collected from recent trips to the Philippines, with each tier serving as a mini altar and offering to each place or item.
​

Pictured left is the mock-up of the installation that I'd originally envisioned. As you can see, it had slight edits later, as well as some additions of items I didn't originally photograph for the mock-up.

When we think of altars & the spirit realms, we often think of tiers, namely the 3 tiers of the underworld, physical world, & spirit world. Originally, I'd wanted to create a 3-tier installation, which would have made more sense for me, but wall space was limited & I wanted a decent amount of spacing in between columns. I also think a lot about tiers when thinking about the homeland, & the tiered rice paddies throughout our region that have been tended to by generations of ancestors.

Everything from the collection of ephemera to the size choice is a reference to the maximalism & space limitations many of us experienced in working class immigrant households. Our family always wanted to maximise any small space to display as many memories as they could share, whether it was small printed photos from family gatherings, or prayer cards wedged into a corner of a frame.

​Click any image below to enlarge. Installation shots were photographed with my Nikon ZF & a 24-70mm lens.

Most pictured here were used in the installation. Some ended up not being used, but I photographed them for the purposes of including them in mock-up designs. Some additional misc ephemera ended up being added at the last minute, because I randomly found them later in my junk collection (sadly, not pictured below).

I've always been in the practice of collecting ephemera from trips, both as memory keepsakes & also to think about how they could be repurposed in the future. While not all that is shown below ended up being used in the installation, each had its own significance that I look back on fondly. Here's a description list for each item. Click on an image below for its corresponding number, but it will go from left to right.

1. This rosary wasn’t collected in the Philippines. It was left on an altar I made for my late friend Xam, placed there by his mother. It goes on every altar installation I create now, & even though he is gone, it's my small way of inviting him.

2 & 7. Prayer booklets & prayer card in Bisaya & English, & mini statue that I purchased from a religious souvenir shop opposite the basilica in Cebu, where I also purchased my Santo Niño statue (#4).

3. Plane tickets on my first ever trip to Cebu — hopefully not the last trip, because there's still so much more I need to explore on that island!

4. Small wooden Santo Niño statue I purchased at the religious souvenir shop opposite the basilica in Cebu. This is the same statue I brought with me to get blessed during the two Santo Niño Fiestas photographed in my VENERATING AN ICON photo essay project.

5-6, 11. Prayer booklet & prayer cards I purchased at a religious souvenir shop at the Namacpacan Church in Luna, La Union — home of the largest image of the Mama Mary (Apo Baket) across the archipelago. More on this below.

8. Ceramic Santo Niño sculpture I found at a public market while shopping for woven items in San Fernando, La Union. 

9. My memory is hazy, but I think I bought this rosary at the religious souvenir shop at Namacpacan Church, or possibly the one in Cebu.

10 & 13. Mama Mary keychain & screenprinted Ilokano prayer cloth from the religious souvenir shop at Namacpacan Church. My original mock-up incorporated the prayer cloth, but the size was so much bigger than everything else, it threw the design off-balance, so I scratched it.

12. Receipt from a clothing shop near the basilica in Cebu. Much like the Vatican in Italy, they JUST started enforcing a dress code only a couple of days before we visited. They wouldn't let me in, because they could see the backs of my knees! I had to find a shop nearby that sold long skirts that I could put over my dress. 

14-16. Magnets we bought on the street next to the basilica in Cebu. I ended up not using any of these in the final installation, & instead ended up giving some to my residency host.

All of these were photographed on a table outside with my iPhone, then I uploaded them into Canva & used the background remover tool. 😅​

Printed digital photos in order of appearance from left column to right column in the installation. Left column of photos were from my 2024 visit to Cebu City to visit the original image of the Santo Niño de Cebu. Left column of photos were from my 2024 visit to Luna, La Union to visit the Apo Baket. You can read more about both trips, the history, research & significance of them in my photo series Return Call.

I knew that for this installation, I wanted to include photography from my trip to Cebu, because it was closely related to the work I would be doing in my residency, photographing the Santo Niño Fiestas. 

However, I decided to include photos of my recent trip to Luna, because similarly to the Santo Niño de Cebu, the Mama Mary in Luna also has miraculous lore behind her dating back to the Spanish colonial period. However, while it's true that her existence in Luna is miraculous, she gets nowhere near as much tourism as the Santo Niño de Cebu does, & seems more like just a local legend instead of an international wonder. I wanted to juxtapose the two, because while I may be Filipina, Cebu & the Bisayas are not my culture, as someone with origins in the Ilokano provinces of the Northern Philippines. I wanted to include something closer to our culture to be more representative of the local history of the region we're from.

Photos 1-4 were from Cebu. Photos 5-9 were from Luna.

Click an image below to enlarge. ​

Lastly, I got to have a few studio visits with some local artists & others. This residency was so busy, because nearly every day I was working on something, going somewhere, meeting someone, or having someone over for a studio visit.

​Here are some photos from some of the visits I had:
​
​Photos by Adrian Discipulo. It was exciting to meet Adrian for multiple reasons. Before starting the residency, I was raising funds & selling some of my work left over from an art fair a few months prior. Adrian ended up contacting me online for one of the prints. When asking for his mailing address, I saw he was based in NorCal & told him I would be there for a month, if he wanted to stop by the studio, because I appreciate trying to meet my buyers when I can. It eases my mind to know who I'm selling to is a decent person & the work will go to a good home.

Anyways, he ended up coming by. He is also a photographer, which was fun to have someone to talk about gear with! After getting to know each other a bit, we also learnt that our families are both from the same province in the Philippines, from neighboring towns! The town where my parents went to school & university, next to the town where they were born. It's always exciting to meet someone else from the same province, let alone town! We also got to check out some exhibition openings for San Francisco Art Week over at the Minnesota Street Project galleries, just opposite the studios. I will share these photos later!
​
The soft quality of Adrian's photos was my fav. Thank you for these!

Photos by Ellie Lopez. Ellie is a NorCal-based poet I got to work with on a photography x poetry program for my project MATA ART GALLERY. She ended up coming by to visit & bought some remaining prints. We ended up going on an impromptu visit to the San Francisco botanical garden, where we learnt we both love pro-wrestling, LOL! We had dinner at a vegan restaurant near the garden & ended the night with boba. It was great to spend 1:1 time with someone I kept in touch with online for so long. She was so kind, supportive & generous. Thank you for visiting!

Lastly, my older brother was kind enough to come up to visit me for a few days. He has a fond connection to the Bay, since he lived there for 7 years. We had so much fun doing classic San Francisco stuff, like riding the streetcars (which I haven't done since I was a kid), riding the ferris wheel, eating seafood & ice cream at the pier, & driving up to Petaluma to visit our cousin who had just given birth. He also helped me deinstall & pack up my studio, which felt so bittersweet. The month was so busy, it truly went by so fast. 

​Silly pics from my brother's iPhone below, because I can't always be serious about everything all the time! If you know, you know. *queues entrance music*

Check out my proposal deck. After viewing the project, what do you think? Did I accomplish what I proposed, or is there more you would have liked to see?

Additional photos & research from the rest of my residency are forthcoming & will be tagged under ARROZidency.

Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram, subscribe to my YouTube channel, or subscribe to my newsletter for updates on my blog posts, projects, or upcoming programs.

If you've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.

Even more people brought their Santo Niños this time & it was so cute seeing the diverse kinds that people owned! Some titas even shared interesting stories with me about how they came to own their Santo Niños. One tita told me she allegedly rescued her Santo Niño from the trash. 🤣 She legit told me this. Y'all think she was telling the truth or was she lying at church?

This is where all the titas got up & started dancing with their Santo Niños! France on the right with the sheer shawl dancing with the Santo Niño I brought from Cebu. ​🕺🏻

Additional photos & research from the rest of my residency are forthcoming & will be tagged under ARROZidency.

Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram, subscribe to my YouTube channel, or subscribe to my newsletter for updates on my blog posts, projects, or upcoming programs.

If you've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.

2.3 will be the last section of part 2 of my main residency project series!

Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram, subscribe to my YouTube channel, or subscribe to my newsletter for updates on my blog posts, projects, or upcoming programs.

If you've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.

The second Santo Niño Fiesta we visited was at Saint Augustine Catholic Church in South San Francisco (which is its own city separate from the City of San Francisco). SSF is the city next to San Bruno, where the first fiesta took place. It is also adjacent to Daly City, where a large FilAm community resides.

South San Francisco was just a BART ride away from where I was staying in San Francisco proper. While the interior architecture of this church wasn't as interesting as the first church, there was a lot more to look at within the exterior church complex itself. It reminded me a lot of the churches I've visited in the Philippines. The church was also a lot more spacious, with more room for the Sinulog performance later on. I'll share those photos in parts 2.2-2.3!

This event was similar to the last one, where they had a procession for the Santo Niño, Mass, & people brought their own Santo Niños to be blessed. It was actually very exciting to see more people bring their images, & to see the many diverse kinds!

Images were photographed using my Nikon ZF & 24-70mm lens.

Click on an image below to enlarge. I recommend viewing from a computer for the full experience.

Sections 2.2 & 2.3 of part 2 are forthcoming, which will contain both photo & video!

Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram, subscribe to my YouTube channel, or subscribe to my newsletter for updates on my blog posts, projects, or upcoming programs.

If you've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.

Since my ARROZidency project is quite long, I’ve broken it up into 3 parts, with part 2 further divided into 3 sections.
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Some background on part 1: We attended 2 Santo Niño Fiestas, which I was not expecting, but was happy I got to experience both. We got into a bit of a kerfuffle with the first fiesta, because we were instructed on one location & were never informed that the event was being relocated. We were already running on Filipino time as it was, so we arrived at the location we thought we had to report to, only to find that no one was there! After getting a hold of the organisers, we were told that the location moved. 😅 It was a bit of a mess, but we eventually made it.
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I hadn’t attended Mass since we buried my dad in the Philippines. Though I don’t share the Catholic Church’s beliefs and took on this project as a documentary exercise, I’ve always admired Catholic artistry and was genuinely excited when we arrived on location.

The first part of this series took place at Saint Robert's Catholic Church in San Bruno, California.

Images were photographed using my Nikon ZF & 24-70mm lens.

Click on an image below to enlarge. I recommend viewing from a computer for the full experience.

The Feast Day of the Santo Niño is typically celebrated on the third Sunday of January in the Philippines. The date celebrates the day the icon of the Holy Child was gifted to the Philippines by Ferdinand Magellan in the 1500s, marking the introduction of Christianity to the archipelago. This date could be confused with the day the image of the Holy Child was discovered in Cebu, but you can read more about these dates on the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu website (the basilica in Cebu where the original Santo Niño lives).

In the Bay Area of Northern California, Catholic FilAm devotees come from all over the region to attend the annual Santo Niño Fiestas. They bring their own Santo Niño statues, which the priests go around to bless with holy water following the Mass. I brought my own Santo Niño, which I purchased at a gift shop opposite the basilica in Cebu.

After the blessing & conclusion of the Mass, it was followed by Sinulog dancers. Sinulog is a festival held in Cebu every third Sunday of January, celebrating the Santo Niño & the Christianization of the Philippines. Though originally a religious celebration, Cebu locals have shared with me that Sinulog has become much like Mardi Gras, drawing people from across the islands and around the world who come less for its religious meaning and more so to party.

For this Santo Niño Fiesta, I felt very lucky to experience it, because I was told this was the first time they ever invited Sinulog dancers to perform after the Mass!

Part 2 in itself will be broken up into 3 different sections, as it was even longer than this one! But the images are more exciting (in my opinion), & I'll have some video to share as well. 

Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram, subscribe to my YouTube channel, or subscribe to my newsletter for updates on my blog posts, projects, or upcoming programs.

If you've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.

Before the end of my trip, my friends asked me if there was anything else I wanted to do before I left. I asked them if they knew of any temples for the goddess Mazu. They asked how I knew about her, & I told them a good friend of mine told me she always wanted to visit a temple for Mazu & asked if I could go see one during my trip.

So we took a short road trip to the coastal town of Su’ao Township in Yilan County, Taiwan to visit the Nanfang’ao Jin’an Temple. By chance, I happened to be there during an annual event that’s scheduled according to the Lunar calendar, making the timing of my visit feel incredibly lucky.

From what one of my friends explained to me, this event is essentially folks bringing deities from their local temples to come pay their respects to the goddess Mazu, with some of the statues portrayed even being split incarnations from a Mazu incarnate. Usually, followers will take the split incarnation to a temple that offers the main Mazu shrine to pay their respects. Followers believe that the divine spirits live in these statues, but since the statues cannot move themselves physically, their followers will travel with them to visit Mazu.

I couldn't find the exact name of this event. Most of the events I read about online with a similar description say they usually take place in March/April, but this event I experience occurred in November. However, if you are interested in learning more, you can read about the various pilgrimages to Mazu that take place in Taiwan.

Who is Mazu & why is is she so special to the Taiwanese people? Mazu was a historical figure who was devoted to her coastal community & died trying to help save fishermen from a shipwreck. After her passing, she was deified. In Taiwan and across the diaspora, people venerate her as a sea goddess and ask for her protection and guidance, especially for those who live or work by the ocean.

With Su’ao Township home to the third-largest fishing community in Taiwan, it’s only natural that there are places of worship dedicated to Mazu. The Mazu shrines inside the temple were remarkable and really something to experience in person. There were three floors of shrines in total: one floor featuring a massive jade statue of Mazu, and the top floor showcasing a breathtaking golden Mazu.

Here are some photos from the ceremony below. Out of respect, I did not photograph the temple interior since there were people praying, but there are plenty of photos online at the links I provided above!

Images were photographed using my Nikon ZF & 24-70mm lens.

Click on an image below to enlarge. I recommend viewing from a computer for the full experience.

We got to spend a day exploring local Taiwanese art & culture in Yilan County! We started off the cloudy day exploring the National Center for Traditional Arts. Visiting at this time of year (late October/early November) was such a difference from the last time I visited in 2018, which was in August, when it was humid & hot as hell. And this was certainly a big difference, after having been traveling in the Philippines (where it was still hot & humid) for a month before hitting Japan & Taiwan.

The National Center for Traditional Arts was fascinating. Not only was it surrounded by massive art sculptures, it was also filled with vintage & antique ephemera that celebrated the region’s heritage, along with shops & places of worship.

At the temples throughout the site, my friend taught me some of the practices & prayers. Since people were praying, I chose not to photograph the spaces out of respect. Instead, I focused mainly on the art & vintage culture of the complex.

Images were photographed using my Nikon ZF & 24-70mm lens.

Click on an image below to enlarge. I recommend viewing from a computer for the full experience.

Misc photos from our phones:
LOL, my friend asked me if I wanted to wear some traditional Taiwanese cultural attire. I said sure! She took me to a vintage-forward photo studio located inside the National Center for Traditional Arts, where they dressed me up & did my hair. We were laughing when they did my hair, because they took so much longer on me. They said they wanted to go all out because it was my first time there. My head felt like it weighed 5 kilos heavier. Anyway, if you ever find yourself here, check out the Photo Studio of Youth. They lent us the clothes for the day, so we explored the whole property wearing these clothes, haha!

Next, we got to visit the Luodong Cultural Working House. Since rain had arrived, it was the perfect place to stop next because we got to be indoors, check out some of their art galleries & rotating exhibitions.

I love, love, looooove oil painting textures & of course had to get some close-ups.

We ended our outings with some really amazing vegan Taiwanese food — actually, some of the best vegan food I've ever had in my life! Not only were the flavors very authentic, but the food was also very affordable & high quality. We were so impressed by the food, we actually ended up going to eat at this restaurant more than once during my trip.

Pictured below on the right is the owner of the restaurant & chef. I can't remember her name at the moment, but she started chatting with us because she wanted to know how we found out about the restaurant. We told her we happened to be driving by & saw their huge sign outside that said "plant-based restaurant", & we explained to her that it's my diet & I was curious about the restaurant.

We had a language barrier, but my friend was kind enough to translate between us so we could communicate. She asked if I'm vegan & I explained I'm not actually vegan, but have been eating a mainly vegan & vegetarian diet for a decade (over a decade now). We exchanged stories on why we've made these lifestyle choices for ourselves. She shared that her whole family is vegan & that she decided to change her diet, because at one point she was very ill, & changing her diet healed her. She then showed me some photos she keeps at the restaurant to share with folks, from the days she was once ill with lupus & other diseases.

As you can see from the very bad auto-translate below on her Facebook post, I also shared that bad health runs in my family as a result of poor dietary choices. And also because I just care about the environment & hate capitalism. I also shared with her how impressed I was with her food, how flavorful it was, how generous the portions were & how affordable the food was, & explained to her that vegan food in the US is very expensive & the quality isn't anywhere near as nice.

She said I was the first foreigner to visit her restaurant & asked if she could share about my visit on their Facebook page. I said sure! Her restaurant has over 10,000 followers on FB! So if you are on FB, make sure to give Hao Ma Plant-Based Restaurant a follow & definitely stop by for a visit if ever find yourself at Yilan County in Taiwan. And as you can see from the photo below, these were the portions!

To learn more about their story, visit their website. The website is not in English, but if you're on Google Chrome, it should give you the option to translate to your preferred language. I hope I can visit again one day & enjoy her amazing food again!

This will be my last photo essay of the year, broken up into three parts.

Taiwan Travel: Art, Ritual & the Everyday is a series of photographs from my trip to Taiwan at the end of 2024. It’s taken me a while to get through these photos, as I’ve prioritised other projects, rest, ​& my well-being. However, after recently reviewing the photos for the first time since then, I’m so glad I got to them when I did. I’m in love with how they came out, ​& they brought back some wonderful memories of bonding ​& spending time with friends in Taiwan, whom I hadn’t seen since my last visit back in 2018.

This first part won’t be as image-heavy. If you’ve been keeping up with this space, you might already know that prior to going to Taiwan, I was traveling in the Philippines ​& Japan. After a month of doing photography in the Philippines, ​& overall dealing with some heavy emotions after having not visited the motherland since burying my dad in 2019, I was burnt out on photography. I didn’t take as many photos as I could have in Japan, ​& my will to shoot became even weaker once I arrived in Taiwan.

Regardless, it was lovely to reconnect with good friends I hadn’t seen in years. I’m eternally grateful to my friends, Animus ​& Angela, for spending time with me, ​& for their hospitality, generosity, ​& deep compassion. Every day was spent immersing ourselves in food, art, local culture, nature, or even the metaphysical. This time it wasn’t so much about experiencing tourism as it was about reconnecting ​& simply being together. Some of the best nights we spent were just drinking home-roasted coffee or local tea, reading tarot cards, playing Uno or Switch, ​& watching Taiwanese films. I also had some of the best vegan food of my life on this trip ​& even got to experience my first typhoon!😅​ 

Overall, losing my job in September 2024 was one of the best things to ever happen to me. Although I’ve been navigating precarity in these last few months as the economy ​& job market have absolutely tanked, 2025 has been one of the best years of my life, ​& it’s due to not having to work, as sad as that may sound. I wish we could all experience this at some point in our lives. This year is the most productive I’ve ever been, ​& I’m so thankful for the opportunity to actually focus on my art practice ​& self-study. While I’ve been struggling to find stability, ​& sometimes struggling with my choices (navigating regret, wondering if I made the right decisions or not), I decided to be brave, take a risk, ​& focus on my self-growth above anything else. I’m also thankful to have had my last job, because the salary paid well enough that I was able to save, still live off that money, ​& be okay right now. Even though things have been uncertain, I have many things to be grateful for, ​& I'm looking forward to what is meant for me next.

Misc unedited photos from my phone:
Click on an image below to enlarge & for a lil' caption description about each one! I'll include a Google Map roundup with notes on each location in my last post in this series, but here are some of the places featured below:

• Luodong Transfer Station, if you're ever interested in taking the bus to Yilan County from Taipei. It's an hour bus ride.
• ​See You Around, coffee shop & photo lab in Yilan County, owned by my good friend & fellow photographer Animus
• Vinyl Decision in Taipei, for the record collectors
• Chia Te in Taipei, for their famous pineapple cakes

Below, we have Artronika’s Executive Director, Ireesh Lal, playing jazz trumpet over his DJ mixes of world music, with a focus on South Asian sounds. Neel Agrawal joined on tabla and Indian percussion, while artist Norton Wisdom painted live on a fiberglass canvas. Flyght Club also joined the lineup, performing a few of his original tracks.