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Sharing more of the extended research & photography of my month long ARROZidency artist-in-residence. If you are just starting here, I recommend scrolling to the bottom to start at the beginning. View from a computer for the full experience! As another reminder, I've split up the work from my residency into 2 separate tags: For my main residency project only, visit: For the full extended roundup of my research during my residency, visit: 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.
  
  
    
     
 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.
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Sharing more of the extended research & photography of my month long ARROZidency artist-in-residence. If you are just starting here, I recommend scrolling to the bottom to start at the beginning. View from a computer for the full experience! As another reminder, I've split up the work from my residency into 2 separate tags: For my main residency project only, visit: For the full extended roundup of my research during my residency, visit: 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. Spirit House at Cantor Arts Center at Stanford UniversityMy 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 
Tidawhitney Lek Refuge, 2023 acrylic, pastel, and oil on canvas
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
Namita Paul Testimony, 2023 canvas and gifted textiles, thread, gold leaf, gold spray paint, lentils, wheat berries, and photo transfer  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 Cian Dayrit's LibertIEs Were Taken at Root Division 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. 
 
  Minnesota Street Project's Dark Matter for SF Art Week 2025Last 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!  Maria A. Guzmán Capron and Seth Capron Lap Chair powder coated aluminum 19"x55"x55" 2025
Ben Venom Night Flyers, 2024 hand-made quilt with fabric 39” x 51”
Rachelle Reichert Wildfires, 2024 San Francisco Bay salt, redwood ashes from California wildfires, and mixed media on panel 48" x 48.5"  Jud Bergeron Layered #1-4, 2024 ink and copper leaf on paper 33" x 25"  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
Demetri Broxton Just Beyond the Waters, 2025 sequins, glass and wood beads, rayon tassels, silver, quartz, and cowrie shells on sateen cotton, linen, wool, and birch 21" x 38"
Andy Diaz Hope Future Memory: Juniper, 2023 17" x 26" unframed digital and physical collage, silkscreen, and photography 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
Charlene Tan Kumot ng Bata, a Homage. 2024 silver leaf, abalone, capiz, cowrie shell, airport reflective glass beads, micro beads, paint, glue, and digital print on aluminum panel 54” x 72”
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" 
 
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 final post & conclusion of my photos & research from 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. This is the last section of the second part of my VENERATING AN ICON documentary photo essay. If you are starting here, I recommend scrolling to the bottom of this series & starting from part 1. In case you missed it, I've split up the work from my residency into 2 separate tags: For my main residency project only, visit: For an extended roundup of my research during my residency, visit: For this project, I was really excited to go back to my documentary photo roots. In my earlier photo work, I focused on documenting multicultural communities, sometimes with a special focus on their spiritual practices. I've documented many communities from Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism, Khmer Buddhism, Krishna Consciousness, to precolonial ritualistic practices of Mesoamerica, to Native American pow wows. Religion and spirituality weren’t central to my upbringing, but it was always present. Though I wasn’t raised Catholic, I was excited to document a community tied to my culture & the history of the Philippines. There's some major reasons why my parents decided not to raise me religious, which was a bold move for immigrant parents of their generation, but I'm grateful for that choice they made in raising me. Their choice allowed me to deepen my curiosity for diverse spiritual practices & led me to discover, study & practice my own spiritual & metaphysical beliefs in my day-to-day life & art. Anyways, a lot has changed since my early documentary photo days. I first started off shooting strictly black & white film. I eventually started shooting color film once I lost access to a lab & discovered color film was cheaper to process. A couple of years ago I decided to expand my toolkit and purchased a digital camera for the first time, which I've enjoyed practicing & playing with. I recently took an advanced lighting class & hoped to expand my toolkit even further. One thing I can say for sure is that these are some of the hardest photos I've ever edited. The church banquet hall had all sorts of different tinted overhead lightbulbs. I had to do so much masking to color correct different parts of the room in these photos, which was a time-consuming challenge on top of not compromising the high saturation aesthetic I go for in my color work. All this to say, after taking this lighting class, I have a new appreciation for using flash & wonder if this could have been remedied had I brought my flash with me this time? Flash still intimidated me at that time, & after taking this class, I hope I can apply the skills I've learnt to continue documenting cultural events like these & producing the best images I can each time. I'm trying not to be scared of flash anymore! Check out the photos & let me know what you would have done differently! 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.  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. Welcome to the last part of this photo blog series, Taiwan Travel: Art, Ritual & the Everyday. If you are just starting here, I recommend scrolling below & starting at part 1! And as promised, here is a map roundup of all the places I visited in Taiwan during this trip. I also included some places I visited during my last trip in 2018, but didn't get to visit them again this time. Make sure to check my notes for each location! :) Nanfang’ao Jin’an TempleBefore 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.  
   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. Welcome to part 2 of this photo blog series, Taiwan Travel: Art, Ritual & the Everyday. If you are just hopping on, I recommend scrolling to part 1 below! National Center for Traditional ArtsWe 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!
Luodong Cultural Working HouseNext, 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. 
 
Ending the DayWe 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!
 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. If you are starting here, this is the last installment out of a 4-part series. I recommend you scroll down to part 1 & start viewing from the bottom up. This last set of photos was from one of my last days I got to spend in Tokyo. I remember it was grey & gloomy, & I was still processing a lot of emotions from being in the Philippines for a month prior. I knew it was likely going to be my last time there for a long time, maybe ever, so I wanted to make it something special & do something my inner-kid self would have loved. When I was growing up in the 90s, I was obsessed with Sailor Moon as a kid. It was easily my fav Japanese cartoon, & I still have fond memories of rushing home to watch it afterschool on Toonami. Ahhh, those were the good old days... At a young age, I was already obsessed with the dreamy aesthetics & space-themed stuff. It's no wonder why as an adult, I love astrology so much now, haha! I remember doing a search for Sailor Moon destinations in Tokyo, mostly expecting to find shops or something. Which, I would have been fine with, to buy some souvenirs. There was a Sailor Moon shop in Harajuku, but what I learned about was way cooler... Here's a Google Map guide with some places I recommend in Minato City! Make sure to check out the notes I left in the locations. Not much on this map, but it at least gives you an idea for how I planned my day. All blogs in this series can be found in the Mono No Aware tag. All photos were made using my Nikon ZF. BEST VIEWED FROM A COMPUTER FOR THE FULL EXPERIENCE. CLICK ANY IMAGE BELOW TO ENLARGE. AZABU HIKAWA SHRINE
 
  
  The Azabu Hikawa Shrine is a destination many Sailor Moon fans visit. It influenced the home of Rei (Sailor Mars) in the anime, & the red used in Sailor Mars' uniform is a reference to the red structures in the property. I was lucky when I visited, I was the only one there! I thought maybe it would be filled with tourists for this reason. ARISUGAWA-NO-MIYA MEMORIAL PARK  
 After the temples, I walked over to Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park, since it was walking distance. This park was one of the most beautiful urban parks I've ever visited. I didn't even feel like I was in the city anymore. I felt like I was transported somewhere else, it was unreal.
Before heading over to the temple, I'd actually ridden a bike over to Fruits and Season to get vegan fruit sandwiches one more time & enjoy them at the park. This park is special, because it's a backdrop for a location Usagi (Sailor Moon) & Mamoru (Tuxedo Mask) used to meet as well as have dates in the anime. It was so cute & I really felt like I was in the anime at some points. And that's the end of my Japan blog series, until I can ever go back again someday... Recently I was feeling really down, because instability just does that sometimes. When I finally got the motivation to start sorting through and editing all the digital photography I made in Japan, it made me so happy to revisit. I started to think about how lucky I was to have been there, to actually live my life, ride a bike everywhere like I used to, & get to reconnect with long distance friends. I even got to do something I really wanted & I rented a Japanese micro apartment. I was really excited about it because I love watching videos about micro apartment living in Japan, to wind down before bed, haha! I know there's a lot of negative things to say about a Filipina-American vacationing in Japan... I get it... TRUST ME, I GET IT.. Discourse is welcome, but I won't have anything to argue because I'm already aware. So judge away & assume what you want about me. Anyways, the end. Thank you for checking out my digital photos from Japan! I'll get to the film when I get to it. 🥴 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've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments. Tomorrow, 3 May, is the last day of my Balay da Judge artist residency with the Alfredo F. Tadiar Library in San Fernando, La Union. 🥲 This will be my last update on this project for a while. I am returning to the US next week, where I will prioritise processing the 35mm film I used to create the main part of this project. The digital photos published in this blog series are meant to serve as previews of the work-in-progress, not final works, but I hope you all enjoyed what you saw. I am hoping to get all film scanned & edited before the end of this year. It will be a priority! These were a few photos I was able to create during the photo walk portion of my photo workshop, using the prompts from our photo scavenger hunt list. These were the very last photos I made with my Nikon ZF (and Pocket Dispo lens) on this trip. View from a computer for the full experience. Click any image to enlarge.   
 Below is an event recap photo gallery provided by the library as well.                      I am also very excited to soon share the workshop participants' photos they created during our photo walk! The submissions are rolling in & already they're all SO incredible! As an art educator, the proudest moment you can experience is seeing your students put your lessons to practice & witness them create. So please stay tuned for updates on that as well! The library & I will be collaborating to publish an online exhibition of the complete collection of photography, & hopefully a printed zine (still TBD).
Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram or subscribe to my YouTube channel for updates on my posts. All updates on my residency will be tagged under Balay da Judge. If you've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.
Hey all, this is the last week of my Balay da Judge artist residency, as it ends on May 3... This will be one of my last few updates on the work-in-progress I've created for this project, so I hope you enjoy.
While this is more of another side quest & not really related to the residency project, my mom & I paid a visit to Ma-Cho Temple in San Fernando. Ma-Cho Temple is located in the barangay of Ilocanos Norte, where my mom & dad had their first house together. My mom said the temple has been there for many years & it's a place she'd always wanted to go, but never did. She said back in the day supposedly it was never open to the public. Before I leave San Fernando, I wanted to visit this place together with her since she said she'd always wanted to see what it was like. After visiting, my mom also got to show me a bit of Ilocanos Norte. All photos below are from my Nikon ZF using a Pocket Dispo lens. View from a computer for the full experience. Click any image to enlarge. 
Loved that all the parked cars happened to be red.
Ma-Cho temple was built in San Fernando, La Union in 1978 by Filipino-Chinese devotees. It is the first Taoist temple in the Philippines. Sat on top of a hill & overlooking the China Sea, this temple is located within the middle of the hustle & bustle of San Fernando city life. The temple is filled with gardens, pagodas, sculptures & an interior temple with the most intricate carved ceiling art I've ever seen. While I'm not a follower myself, my interest in culture extends to religion & spirituality, & I love visiting places like these. Last autumn, I recently came back from visiting an epic Taoist temple for the sea goddess Mazu in Taiwan. Naturally, stopping by this type of location would interest me. (I'll eventually share photos from that trip, but it's not a priority at the moment.)
After spending some time at the temple, we went around Ilocanos Norte to find the first house her & my dad lived in together as a couple. 
Here, you can see the entrance to the small street leading up to my parents' old house. Since it's not an actual street, there is no street name, but it is off of Ortega Street.
We walked down the small corridor & came across someone staying near the house. The lady told my mom that the original owner (who owned the house when my mom & dad were renting from them) sold the house some time ago & the former owner's nephew is currently the caretaker for the house. My mom explained that she used to live there many years ago with my late dad. She told me she had not been back to that house since the 1970s, & that back in the day it was still dirt roads around there with not as many other houses around.
After we visited her & my dad's first house off of Ortega Street, we went to visit one more house of theirs', which is actually also located just within Tanqui, behind the church at the town plaza in San Fernando.
Located behind this house on Zamora Street, just up the alley on the right (which also has no name) is the last house my mom lived in before immigrating to the United States. She said it is also the house she was living in when she brought my brother home from the hospital. He was born in 1975 & she immigrated to the States in 1980. She lived in this house for about 5 years.
During the photo walk portion of my photography workshop this past weekend, we walked up this street to get to the capital grounds on top of the hill, where students would practice their photography skills & create photos using the prompts in their scavenger hunt list. I made sure to make a little pit stop by this house (just on the road, we didn't go through the alley), where I shared a bit of my family history & why this project is so personal to me.
I also forgot to update you all on which house my mom & dad formerly lived in on Zandueta Street, the street that crosses the library. Here is a photo again (which I already featured in part 2), as well as its placement on the map. You can see that Puón Books/Alfredo F. Tadiar Library is just at the end of the street. 
I hate all the political tarps. LOL
On a final [side] note — I'd also like to point out that some of you may have noticed I added something new to this post, which are the interactive maps. Since a lot of my work really is a visual diary of place, I wanted to further help viewers visualise these locations by sharing maps of where they're actually at & what is surrounding them. This inclusion was inspired by the comic series Windmills: Bearings by Filipino komik artist, Josel Nicolas. I recently got to purchase this graphic novel at Puón & read it during breaks from my residency work. An autobiographical graphic novel, I was inspired by Josel's juxtapositions of his unique illustration style with photography & maps, to further give readers an understanding of place. Not only was this an art style I have not yet encountered in comics (although I can't say it's like I've read millions of them), his writing style was poetic, & his narratives on personal traumas & mortality were deeply heavy, yet oddly relatable. I also really appreciated his humor & very generational-specific references ranging from WWF (F, not E, because us millenials grew up during the WWF era still!), to music references like Oasis (my fav!) & Slade, to random illustrations of Gael Garcia Bernal for no real reason (maybe other than the fact that we grew up watching so many of his films in the early 2000s). Anyways, please consider this my modest book review & get your hands on this inspirational graphic novel if you don't already own it! But bear in mind (hehe), it does contain some very heavy topics.
I have one more post before I time out of my residency tomorrow, 3 May! Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram or subscribe to my YouTube channel for updates on my posts. All updates on my residency will be tagged under Balay da Judge.
If you've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments. This visit was a bit of a side quest, since I can't really say for certain my parents spent any time at this destination. Earlier this week, my studio assistant & I went on a little excursion to Pindangan Ruins. This is somewhere I'd always seen nearby in my Google Maps, but kept forgetting about it. My studio assistant & I recently went to a pasalubong (souvenir) shop at the San Fernando town plaza that gives out free travel guide booklets. I was reminded again of this destination when I was reading through this helpful travel guide! According to La Union Tayo!, Pindangan was the original name of the City of San Fernando. Pindangan is derived from the Ilokano word pindang, a method of sun-drying & salt preserving meat, referring to San Fernando as a destination heavy in this type of delicacy. Due to its close proximity to the sea, the original church was at constant risk of attacks from foreign invaders (ironic, since I would consider the Spanish foreign invaders themselves). Originally built by Spanish priests in 1764, the church was eventually moved to the town plaza after a couple of other previous relocations, & it is now known as the Cathedral Parish of Saint William the Hermit. However, the ruin site has a Carmelite monastery, which does have its own small church. While this visit isn't directly related to my family's history, it's still part of my study on contemporary San Fernando & integral to its timeline. Being an Ilokana in the Californian diaspora, I'm particularly interested in the parallels between Filipinos & California Natives. We share the same colonisers — both Spain & the so-called United States — & remnants of the Spanish colonial era still exist in both places. As some of you already know, I did a recent photo documentary series on the celebration of the Santo Niño in contemporary Philippines & the diaspora for my project Venerating an Icon, as part of my recent residency at the Minnesota Street Projects in San Francisco. This project is still in-progress, but I'm aiming to tie up loose ends before the end of this year! The project examined a centuries old Spanish icon that is still glorified throughout the islands & diaspora, & I was especially interested in its context within California, another former colony of Spain when it was part of what was known as New Spain. Without further adue, here are some photos from our outing to the Pindangan Ruins. All photos below are from my Nikon ZF using a Pocket Dispo lens. View from a computer for the full experience. Click any image to enlarge. 
 My studio assistant getting some practice with composition. :')
My fav easter egg I got to encounter during this visit was finding the kusikus pattern on the door frame of this small chapel (I'm assuming that's what the structure was). The kusikus is very Ilokano-specific & refers to whirlwind patterns found on abel ules, or woven inabel blankets. The kusikus comes in many variations, but this is probably the most popular version of it. Woven on blankets slept with at night, the pattern is intended to confuse & scare off bad spirits. Make sure to enlarge the images to check out that kusikus doorframe! Unfortunately, that was as close as I could get, as the property was fenced off & not accessible.   Some misc bougainvillea compositions. I love the dual juxtapositions of organic & colorful with grey distressed manmade structure. I also recently found out that bougainvillea is the official provincial flower of La Union. I learnt this through the travel guide booklet I picked up at the pasalubong shop, haha.   Being that it is Semana Santa here in the Philippines, you will usually find images of Jesus & crucifixes covered in purple veils. Starting during the Passiontide, or the last two weeks of Lent, they cover Jesus to observe the last days of his life up until his resurrection on Easter, when he is then unveiled. In the Philippines, his unveiling is considered a way of celebrating his resurrection & Easter. The veil is purple to represent royalty, reminding believers that "Christ is King". Just a friendly reminder that I don't believe in any of this shit, LOL. I just find it interesting, so don't come at me!
More blog posts on the work I've been producing during my residency will be published in the coming weeks! Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram or subscribe to my YouTube channel for updates on my posts. All updates on my residency will be tagged under Balay da Judge.
If you've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.
Earlier this week I went for a short sunset walk in the barangay of Lingsat in San Fernando, La Union. Like I'd previously mentioned, since it's been so hot, I've been trying to plan my photo outings around other errands I have to run, so that I can do photography closer to sunset, when it's less hot & the lighting is immaculate.
It's not technically an errand, more of a luxury, but there's a nail salon I started going to in Lingsat to get my nails done. I've been working on this project so much, I also need breaks & moments to treat myself! We all do. So I headed over to get my nails done first, then walked to a specific street to do some photography. Part of my mom's family history took place in Lingsat, specifically Hufano St. This is the street my older brother grew up on with our cousins early in his childhood, when our mother first immigrated to the US. He would then immigrate 5 years after her. My tita Rebing & manong Ronald both passed away nearly 2 years ago, one after the other... I didn't grow up here, but I also spent a lot of time here, both in childhood & as an adult. I decided to revisit so I could document what's left of this place to me. All photos below are from my Nikon ZF using a Pocket Dispo lens. View from a computer for the full experience. Click any image to enlarge. 
Walking down Hufano St felt warm & familiar, until I arrived at my tita's house & it was nearly unrecognisable. I only recognised the property because I remembered it was a corner lot & I remembered what the gate looked like. I was sad to see the small dwellings behind the main house were gone — the lot is now empty. And I know it doesn't make sense to keep since she passed away, but I was also so disappointed to see her sari-sari store gone. I spent so many slow morning's at this store, having breakfast, & hanging out with my nieces & nephews.
More blog posts on the work I've been producing during my residency will be published in the coming weeks! Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram, or subscribe to my YouTube channel for updates on my posts. All updates on my residency will be tagged under Balay da Judge.
If you've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments. Here's some photos from my explorations around San Fernando on foot. These photos took place in the barangays of Catbangen & Tanqui. Not only are these barangays where the Balay da Judge artist residency & Alfredo F. Tadiar library are, they are also former barangays my parents used to live in & spend time in together. Since it's been so hot, I've been trying to plan my outings & errands later in the day, so I can go for a walk & explore after. Here's some interesting compositions & textures I saw during my walks, both early morning & late afternoon. I found that already by 9AM here, the lighting can be quite harsh. For temperature & lighting's sake, 4-6PM has been the sweet spot. All photos below are from my Nikon ZF using a Pocket Dispo lens. View from a computer for the full experience. Click any image to enlarge. Around the Plaza & Tanqui
 My parents once lived on Zandueta St. This street crosses the library.  Harsh lighting, but interesting shadows!
My mom said her & my dad once lived in a green house on Zandueta St, near the library. But we only saw one all-green house that looked way too massive for just a couple?! We saw some houses with green breeze block exteriors, but only one house that was actually all-green. Will confirm what exact house in the coming days, but either way, I love breeze blocks & I hate the mint green color, but I'm reminded of Tropikaye's study on #TKColorCooling. Check out the community index on their Instagram or Facebook pages. Despite my dislike for the color itself, this Philippine-specific visual phenomena still fascinates me. La Union Provincial CapitalFun fact: Did you know San Fernando is the capital city of La Union? 
I haven't been up to the capital grounds since 2018, when my older cousin first took me up here. Every time I come back home & he & his kids are not here, it's not the same. But I'll always be reminded of him fondly whenever I visit the kapitolyo or explore around San Fernando. Upon arrival, my studio assistant & I were pleasantly surprised to see that there was a lovely installation of artificial tulips for the spring season! I bet this looks stunning in the evening time. This is a location we will be visiting for my upcoming photo walk workshop, & we will be heading over around the golden hour. Hopefully it will be lit up so we can experience some magic together!
 They also still had Christmas decorations up, but it was still cute. 😅 Later Day ExplorationsNot sure the exact cause, but last week I experienced one of the worst migraines I've ever had. I was laying in my darkened room with the blinds shut. Any light & sound was making my head pound, & it hurt to look at anything. I tried taking an hour nap & woke up feeling worse! Took a cold shower that didn't help either. I took some meds & knocked out for another 5 hours, & that ended up doing the trick. It could have been caused by a combo of lack of sleep (which is not uncommon for me, sadly), heat exhaustion & maybe even dehydration. After a busy week & that migraine spell, Friday came along & I felt entitled to treating myself to a spa day, hehe. I took a tricycle to the spa, then took one back & got off at the town plaza so I could head back to the residence in Catbangen on foot. During my walk around Catbangen, I decided to take some side streets to find a local mini mart. It was closed, but I randomly happened to come across my mom's former high school. I often enjoy taking side streets because they're quieter & sometimes you just find things you wouldn't expect to see, whether they're locations or just cool compositions.
 
Saw this sick tricycle sidecar with flames painted on it. Along with the epic sunset lighting, it's giving Philippine Flavortown aesthetic. 🔥
 I love the juxtaposition of nature with rusty textures & colors. When you think of it, rust is just a chemical reaction that happens naturally when steel or iron corrode from the meeting of oxygen & water.   More blog posts on the work I've been producing during my residency will be published in the coming weeks! Make sure to keep checking this space, follow me on Instagram or subscribe to my YouTube channel for updates on my posts. All updates on my residency will be tagged under Balay da Judge.
If you've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments. Kaamulan FestAside from reconnecting with friends & exploring the island, Kaamulan is the main reason why I wanted to come to Mindanao this time! I was really hoping to experience the grand entry & hopefully see some performances or Native games, but we weren't able to this time. Hopefully next time if I'm ever able to visit again! Nonetheless, it was great to connect, experience the art, view how different their art styles are, but also draw connections as well. While the cultures of the Northern & Southern Philippines can greatly vary, I hope people can also realise the similarities we share with our relatives in the south. The Kaamulan Festival is a large month-long cultural gathering of the ethnic tribes of the Bukidnon province in Mindanao. Held in the provincial capital of Malaybalay, it is a special time for the seven tribes to unite. I was told the festival has been going on for a little over 50 years, but some believe it may have been celebrated even farther back. Although I didn't get to experience any music or performances this time, I got to leave the festival dripping in brass jewellery — something I was hoping to leave with. Throughout the Northern & Southern Philippines, brass is used to make musical instruments & accessories. Brass instruments are played for an array of uses such as communication, ceremony, or celebration. As accessories, brass is worn to ward off bad energies & spirits. All photos below are from my Nikon ZF using a Pocket Dispo lens. The women portrayed below consented to me photographing them. View photos from a computer for the full experience. Click any image below to enlarge. 
Abbey of TransfigurationWe had the unique opportunity to stay at an accommodation in Malaybalay that was near the Abbey of Transfiguration. Nestled among acres of banana & cacao trees, the abbey is a Catholic monastery that has a pyramid-shaped church, as well as a coffee plantation that is farmed, harvested, & roasted by the monks that live in the monastery. Make sure to grab a bag of their Monk's Blend coffee beans at their gift shop! If you are interested in going inside the church, please note that they do have a dress code, just like the Vatican in Rome & now the Basilica de Santo Niño in Cebu. 
   And that concludes my 9-day trip to Mindanao. 9 days was not enough, but I'm so happy & grateful I got to experience it at least once. I hope this is not the last time I will be in Mindanao. I just know there's still so much to see & experience here. And while I know these don't seem like a lot of photos, I was honestly just trying to be there & be immersed in it all.
Eternally grateful to my friend's Nikki & RM for taking the time to show me around Mindanao, & also dealing with some of the unnecessary qualms I came with. 😅 Thank you for everything! Please check out their newest project that is currently underway, Balay Kasamtangan. If you have the means to, please redistribute your wealth & support their one of a kind project! If you've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments. First, & hopefully not last, trip to the island of Mindanao in the Philippines! Despite several generalisations about Mindanao, I've never been influenced by these misconceptions, & it has always been a place I've wanted to visit. I've always been enamored by their gorgeous art aesthetics, music, culture, & admire them for their colonial resistance. So glad I finally got to visit, esp with the guidance of brilliant creatives & friends, but I hope I'm able to make it back again to further explore the island & culture! Iligan City in the northern Mindanaon province of Lanao Del Norte was the first stop on our 9-day visit. The main languages spoken here are Bisaya, Tagalog, & English is also commonly spoken throughout the islands. Lanao del Norte & the region surrounding Lake Lanao is the ancestral land of the Maranao, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group in Mindanao. They are one of the largest Islamic groups in the so-called Philippines. Below are photos of Bai Ming, a Maranao matriarch, who invited me to peek into her world. Her & her family import or create all the goods sold in her shop, Ming's Collection. She consented to me photographing her, & in return I'd love to share about her business! You can find them here on Facebook (if you've got an account), or look them up on Google Maps. All photos below are from my Nikon ZF. Also first time using my Pocket Dispo lens, gifted to me by my friend & photography collague, Noah B! The lens is great & love the softer texture it creates, but it's def not for everything. It was fun to take it out on a spin for the first time on this trip tho, & hopefully I can find some good use out of it again in the future. My film photos from this trip will probably come later this year! View photos from a computer for the full experience. Click any image below to enlarge.  
 
MISC ILIGAN...Here's some more photos exploring Iligan City! Starting with the amazing view from Fat Pauly's. The photo of the lighthouse almost looks like a postcard images & the swirl of the clouds during sunset were unbelievable.
Paseo de SantiagoIf you're into Spanish historic destinations, check out Paseo de Santiago. This park is a paid tourist attraction along the ocean, & is named after Spanish "explorer", Santiago de la Cruz, who is credited for "discovering" the Iligan Bay in the 16th Century. While this is considered a historic destination, I've read that the park itself is a newer tourist attraction. Aside from the park & lush scenery, they also have food vendors, occasionally host events & offer rentals. This park has paid admission & honors senior discounts. 
  
 "LAPU LAPU — He is the first famous person written in our history that bravely and gallantly defended our land and our race against foreign invaders on April 2, 1521 known as the "Battle of Mactan" that resulted to the death of Ferdinand Magellan and the defeat of his Spanish and Portuguese forces." Tambo Public MarketMy mother came with me on this trip to Mindanao this time. I can't stress enough how I'm at the point now where I'm starting to feel like the parent, haha! Anyways, before our trip, she said she hadn't been to Mindanao since the 1970's. And she mentioned one thing she really wanted to bring back to La Union was dried fish, claiming that is a really nice cuisine they have there. My friend was kind enough to bring us to Tambo Public Market, where she was able to buy dried pusit (squid), & other fish. These are typically fried & served with garlic rice, eggs & some sort of veggie side dish for breakfast. 🦑 I'm sure some of you can tell that these interior photos in the market are dark inside. I had to use quite a high ISO. Once bringing them into Lightroom, they were very noisy. I do not recommend Lightroom's AI noise removal tool, as it makes the photos look way too fake. Instead, use the option to manually reduce the noise. They won't be perfect & noise-free, but the tool does help, in moderation.     Beadwork Workshop at Espasyo Creative HUbGot to peel off for a day to take an introductory beadwork workshop at Espasyo Creative Hub. Not only do they occasionally host creative workshops, they also have a restaurant & a storefront where they sell local handmade goods, crafts, art & even some sweet treats hehe. As you can see, the Pocket Dispo lens is not great for close-ups. So that's something to keep in mind when using this lens. It is a lot like a disposable camera in this way! For those of us who are old enough to remember using disposable cameras in our youth... haha!
Jeepneys of IliganSome of you know I'm a public transportation nerd & love riding/exploring on foot/public transit anywhere I go. It was nice to get a break from riding Grab (the Philippines' rideshare service in major cities) & driving, & actually getting to ride around in one of their jeeps! I've only visited 3 Philippine islands so far & have noticed a difference in their jeeps & public transit. The last island I visited last year was Cebu, & I noticed their jeeps were mostly the Japanese models, & tricycles were also bawal (forbidden). In addition to the jeeps in La Union (on the island of Luzon), you see tricycles everywhere & it's actually my favorite way to get around (when not driving — we also don't have Grab in La Union). And in Luzon, our jeeps are mostly Mercedes or BMW (what I like to call the n*zi models, LOL). However, in Mindanao, I noticed their jeepneys were a mix of n*zi models & also the Japanese models (I mostly saw Isuzu & Mitsubishi, & probably others). Here's a few jeeps in motion while getting to ride in one! They also didn't have tricycles, but they had Bajaj 3-wheelers which are typically ridden for shorter distances. Didn't get any photos of any, but you can look them up here, if you're curious. 
Butterflies These photos are all out of sequence, but I wanted to share this image last. After exploring Iligan with friends for the day, they brought me to a malongan, a shop that sells malongs. For a long time, I've been drawn to butterflies, & I immediately spotted a malong with a butterfly pattern. My friend & I both agreed we'd never seen a malong with butterflies on it. Of course I had to get it. After some shopping, we stepped out to end up at the Tubod River (I think this is the one).
Upon stepping out to the river, we noticed a black butterfly landed on my arm & flew away. When my dad passed away years ago, I remember a black butterfly staying on the ceiling above his casket for days during the week-long wake. Not sure exactly who was communicating with me this time, but could feel this was a messenger from the spirit world making sure we were protected on this trip. Part 2 of my Mindanao trip is forthcoming, followed by a special announcement on why I'm in the Philippines again for TWO months! If you've read this far, thank you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or any questions in the comments.  Another piece where the scan does the colors no justice!
This untitled multimedia piece, consisting of goache on a digital photo print, is a collaboration between me & fellow Filipina-American artist, Vanessa Briones. Vanessa & I have been good friends & collaborators for the last 7 years, & I felt so lucky I got to spend a lot of quality time with her again during my recent residency in San Francisco. It was nice to co-work adjacent to her at my SF studio space! This idea, where I ask other artists to paint their vision in their style over my photo prints, is something I've thought of doing for years. Not only did I get to spend more than one day with Vanessa, I am honored she got to be the first to attempt this experimentation with me. The photo is of Namacpacan Church in Luna, La Union, which you can read about its lore & history in my blog post Return Call Part 3. This collaborative idea is something I hope I can develop into a series & get more artists involved in. Leave a comment or hit up my email if you're interested in attempting this with me! Happy Lunar New Year from so-called San Francisco, CA! I've been in SF for a little over two weeks now, participating in an artist-in-residence program I was invited to nearly a year ago. This was something I was looking forward to all of last year & I've been having an amazing time so far. In just these past two weeks, I've got to connect with so many incredibly talented artists & arts professionals, experience so much art & culture, eat phenomenal food, & go on some scenic bike rides through parks & along the Bay. It's been an absolute dream. I hesitated to share about this sooner since many of you know I mostly work in silence & don't post a lot online. Especially within these last 1-1.5 years with the genocide & ongoing occupation of Palestine, then with the massive wildfires back in my hometown of Los Angeles erupting across the city right as I left for my residency, I've struggled with sharing because it hasn't felt good to me. However, in the next couple weeks as I start to wrap up my month-long residency, I'll be sharing more about what I've been making here in SF, as well as some more exciting news for my artistic "career". 2025 is year of the wood snake. The snake symbolises good luck & rebirth. Many of us in LA have had a rough start to 2025, & so many in Palestine have lost so much over nearly a century. I can't even begin to imagine what some are going through. But, while fire may be associated with destruction, it also comes with rebirth & regrowth. As we spend at least the next decade (or more) rebuilding, I hope 2025 is the year we all begin to rethink our relationship to the earth & each other, & the changes we need to make to ensure we see the land & our communities thrive for many more years. Feel free to let me know in the comments what your hopes are for year of the wood snake. 🪵🐍 Anyways! Here's some pics from this last Sunday at the SF Chinatown Flower Market Fair, as well as a visit to Edge on the Square to see their current exhibition (please note they're not normally open on Sundays). All photos are from my Nikon ZF with 40mm lens. Please view from a computer for the full experience & you can click on any image below to enlarge. 
  
 
WALKING STORIES AT EDGE ON THE SQUAREEdge on the Square is a space I wanted to check out the previous Sunday as my little cousin & I walked around Chinatown after having lunch. As the window display caught my eye, I was bummed they were closed! Thanks to their newsletter, I found out about the Chinatown flower fair & I was very happy to see they were also open. Their current exhibition, Walking Stories, is not one to miss. It is an interactive exhibition that shares the narratives of several Asian/-American artists. Check it out while it's still up & make sure to grab yourself some free zines & print media made by the artists.
The exterior window display (pictured on the left) particularly caught my eye, since it seemed very Killjoy-esque. Not her work, but a great piece nonetheless. However, I have to say the installation on reparations (pictured on the right) was my fav of all the works. Definitely grab yourself a mini-zine from the artist as well. MISC UPDATES:
Lastly, I'd like to share, like many people, I am further reducing my activity on social media. Social media is not something I've enjoyed for many years now. Just like I got off of Facebook & Tumblr, I might exit Instagram as well, but not sure yet. I will continue updating this blog & my new calendar page. I also recently started rolling out more of my video "content" on my YouTube channel — please subscribe! It's mostly just for fun, hehe. In the mean time, the best thing for you to do is sign up for my newsletter at the form below, to receive my updates in your inbox. Thanks for reading. I welcome any questions or dialogue in the comments. 🖤 |
NICA AQUINOIn this space I'll share digital previews of my film photography, updates on new artworks in progress, upcoming programs, inspiration & my other misc interests. Archives
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