Category: Bay Area CA

CollaboratiON with Vanessa Briones

2/21/2025

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!

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Lunar New Year, 2025

1/28/2025

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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 SQUARE***

Edge 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:

Also opening on Lunar New Year in Seoul, South Korea, my work was selected to be part of the Czong Center for Contemporary Art (CICA Museum) group exhibition, PORTRAIT 2025, now on view through February 16, 2025.

Not sure if I have any followers based in Korea, or maybe one of you are planning a trip there, but go check it out for me if you can. :)

I also now have a calendar page on my website, that will include all my upcoming OOO dates, exhibitions & programming.

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. 🖤

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CollaboratiON with Vanessa Briones

Lunar New Year, 2025

***WALKING STORIES* AT *EDGE ON THE SQUARE***

MISC UPDATES:

NICA AQUINO

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CollaboratiON with Vanessa Briones

Lunar New Year, 2025

WALKING STORIES AT ​EDGE ON THE SQUARE

MISC UPDATES:

NICA AQUINO

Archives

Categories

***WALKING STORIES* AT *EDGE ON THE SQUARE***